CARACAS, Venezuela — On Sunday, Venezuelan opposition figure Maria Corina Machado called on her supporters to organize nationwide protests, emphasizing in a video message that President Nicolás Maduro would not resign voluntarily and that action was necessary to force him out of power.
Machado announced plans for demonstrations to take place on Thursday, just one day before the commencement of Venezuela’s new presidential term. This rallying cry followed government announcements regarding plans to apprehend retired diplomat Edmundo González, who claims to have won the election against Maduro last year.
“Maduro will not leave on his own; we need to unite as a population that refuses to back down,” Machado asserted in her social media video. “It’s time to gather, raise our voices, and show them that their time is up. This ends now.”
Having been in hiding for several months to avoid potential arrest, Machado assured her followers that she would join them for the protests on Thursday.
Earlier that day, without directly naming González, Jorge Rodriguez, leader of the National Assembly, indicated that the assembly would seek his immediate detention should he return to Venezuela. This threat was issued after the government announced a reward of $100,000 for information regarding González’s location.
After receiving an arrest warrant connected to an election-related inquiry, González left Venezuela for exile in Spain in September. He has recently pledged to return to Venezuela to be sworn in for the presidential term, which according to law is scheduled to start on January 10. However, he has not clarified how he intends to return or take control from Maduro, whose party maintains dominance over all state institutions and military forces.
“That shameful individual… has been asserting he will return to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” Rodriguez stated shortly after his re-election as president of the National Assembly. “Every deputy committed to peace will demand his immediate arrest if he sets foot in our territory.”
González is currently on a tour of the Americas, which included stops in Argentina and Uruguay over the weekend. He informed journalists that he would next travel to the United States and hoped to engage with President Joe Biden. Plans also include visits to Panama and the Dominican Republic.
At the same time, Maduro has received an invitation from the National Assembly for his swearing-in ceremony set for Friday, marking the beginning of his third term over five months after the country’s National Electoral Council—comprised of regime loyalists—declared him the victor in the July 28 elections.
In contrast to previous elections, the electoral authorities did not provide comprehensive vote counts this time around. However, the opposition managed to gather result sheets from over 80% of the electronic voting machines and shared those results publicly, claiming that González had secured twice the number of votes compared to Maduro.
International outcry over the election’s lack of transparency led Maduro to request an audit of the results from Venezuela’s high court, which is also dominated by his supporters. The court later confirmed his electoral victory.
The United States, along with most European nations, has dismissed the official election results and acknowledges González as the rightful victor. On Sunday, Rodriguez informed assembly members that their request to detain González would rely on a recently enacted measure enabling prosecution for anyone who supports economic sanctions against Venezuela, similar to those imposed by the United States.
