Venezuela opposition marks two months since disputed vote

 

Small groups of opposition protesters rallied Saturday in Venezuela, joined by supporters outside the country, marking two months since the country's disputed election that President Nicolas Maduro claimed to have won.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, in hiding after denouncing the proclaimed results as fraudulent, called for smaller gatherings to avoid security crackdowns seen at earlier protests.

About 30 people shouted slogans at a Caracas plaza, including Leida Brito, known as "Red Helmet Grandmother" from her years of anti-government activism.

"Nicolas Maduro should leave because he lost," she said, holding a sign which read: "To defend the vote is a right."

"The freedom of Venezuela is in danger," Hidalgo Valero, a retired colonel, told AFP.

"Today our people are afraid to be in the streets because there is tremendous repression," he added.

Machado addressed supporters in a voice note released by her team: "Here we are standing firm, advancing every day with more strength and enthusiasm, gathered here as the brave and good Venezuela."

Dozens of opposition leaders have been arrested since the contested poll, along with more than 2,400 other Venezuelans accused of "terrorism" for allegedly taking part in protests.

Twenty-seven people were killed in the post-election clashes.

The opposition says its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won the July 28 election with 67 per cent of the vote, releasing its own tally of polling station-level results.

Maduro, however, was declared the winner with 52 per cent of the vote by the pro-government National Electoral Council (CNE), which has yet to release detailed voting results, as required by law.

Gonzalez Urrutia, a 75-year-old retired diplomat, left Venezuela this month for asylum in Spain after spending weeks in hiding.

Larger protests also took place outside Venezuela, including in Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Panama City and Montevideo. In Madrid, Gonzalez Urrutia greeted supporters who were waving the Venezuelan flag.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Maduro supporters marched in Caracas to proclaim victory in the election.

Maduro told the crowd the "supposed queen bee," in reference to Machado, "is beginning to pack her Gucci suitcases... she is preparing to leave too."

"We are not in Madrid, we are not hiding, we are in the street," he declared.

On Thursday, some 30 countries led by the United States and Argentina urged Maduro to engage in dialogue with the opposition.

In a joint statement, the countries called for "constructive and inclusive discussions" on a democratic transition and to immediately release Venezuelans detained in the election aftermath.