Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan citizens took to the streets in recent days after President Nicolás Maduro was re-elected for a third consecutive term. The opposition claims that the results were falsified, and now the UN and a number of countries in the world are demanding that the local regime present the results to them in full detail.
Venezuelan security forces are battling protesters. Thousands of people flooded the streets of several neighborhoods in the capital city of Caracas throughout the day and night yesterday, chanting "Freedom, Freedom!" and "This government is going to fall!" When some of them tore posters of Maduro's election campaign from street poles and burned them.
Agence France Presse (AFP) reports that the members of the National Guard fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters, some wearing motorcycle helmets and bandanas tied over their faces for protection, while a considerable number responded by throwing stones at the security forces.
Videos of people toppling a statue of Maduro's predecessor, Hugo Chavez, appeared on social media, while some protesters banged pots and pans in protest. Streets and roads were blocked with burning tires and police fired tear gas to disperse protesters approaching the Miraflores Palace, the president's residence.
Just hours after Maduro's victory was confirmed by the government-controlled electoral authority, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado declared her candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, the real winner, with 6.2 million votes to Maduro's 2.7 million, based on data she said was obtained by the opposition from 73 percent of the voting stations. "I am speaking to you calmly and truthfully," Gonzalez said as dozens of supporters cheered him outside the campaign headquarters in the capital Caracas. "We have in our hands the summary pages that demonstrate our clear and irreversible victory mathematically."
* Mako News contributed to this article.