ReutersVenezuela’s opposition party has called for worldwide protests on August 17 in support of its claim to victory in the country’s presidential election.
President Nicolás Maduro has been declared the winner by the government-controlled electoral commission and will remain in office for a third consecutive term.
The opposition says its candidate, Edmundo González, is the real winner and has called on the commission to release detailed data from polling stations.
The call has been backed by the European Union and the United States, while several other Latin American countries have so far refused to recognise Mr Maduro as the winner of last month’s vote.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado posted a video on social media in which she said Venezuelans should “take to the streets” around the world on Saturday, August 17, to support her party’s claim of victory.
“Let us together chant slogans in support of our victory and recognize the truth and sovereignty of the people,” she said on Sunday.
Her party released a dataset online shortly after the July 28 election that it said showed Mr. González had won by an overwhelming margin.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was “clear evidence” that Edmundo González won the most votes.
However, the Maduro administration insists that the results announced by the National Electoral Council (CNE), which includes many of its allies, are the only valid results.
Mr. Maduro said he would announce the vote countbut no specific time has been given.
He accused the opposition of producing fake evidence to contest the election results and said the United States was behind what he described as a farce and an attempted coup.
Mr González, who replaced Ms Machado as the opposition candidate after she was barred from running, also called for nationwide and worldwide protests in support of “the truth”.
Both are in hiding – Ms Machado wrote in the Wall Street Journal that she feared for her “life” and “freedom”.
The government has declared that Ms Machado must be arrested.
Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in Venezuela and other Latin American countries after official election results were disputed.
The government said more than 2,000 people had been arrested, some of them accused of being “terrorists”.
Several opposition figures have also been arrested in recent weeks.
María Oropeza, campaign coordinator for the opposition coalition Vente Venezuela, live-streamed her arrest on Instagram.
In one video, a loud bang can be heard in the background as she tells her followers she did nothing wrong. Officers from Venezuela’s military counterintelligence agency then burst through her door and the video cuts to black.
Members of the security forces arrested Freddy Superlano and Roland Carreño – both of whom work for the opposition party Popular Will – and Ricardo Estévez, a technical adviser to the same opposition movement as Ms Oropeza.
Last week, Mr González refused to appear before the country’s Supreme Court after it summoned all presidential candidates to audit the disputed vote.
He later said he would risk his freedom and “the will of the Venezuelan people” if he attended.
Venezuela’s Supreme Court, seen by the opposition as aligned with President Maduro, said on Saturday it was continuing to evaluate the election and its ruling would be “final and binding”.
