An armored police car drives through tear gas during a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, July 29, 2024, the day after the presidential election.
Federico Parra | AFP | Getty Images
Photos published by Getty Images showed what appeared to be riot police using tear gas on protesters in Caracas, as well as demonstrators banging pots and pans and burning tires on the highway.
Opponents of Maduro’s government were also seen carrying a large banner that read, “Venezuela, I want you to be free.”
CNBC was unable to independently verify the image.
Riot police officers use tear gas on protesters during a protest against opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government in the Catia neighborhood of Caracas on July 29, 2024, the day after Venezuela’s presidential election.
Yuri Cortez | AFP | Getty Images
The National Electoral Council, loyal to Maduro’s ruling party, announced on Monday that the incumbent president won Sunday’s presidential election, winning just over half the vote (51%).
But independent exit polls suggested a landslide victory for opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia.
Gonzalez and opposition leader Marina Corina Machado, who was barred from running in the election, told supporters on Monday that they had won more than 70% of the vote in Sunday’s election.
Machado called on Maduro to acknowledge that his 11-year rule was over, rejecting his claim that his victory was “irreversible”.
“He should understand that he has been defeated,” Machado told The Guardian in an interview published on Tuesday. “I would say his departure is irreversible.”
President-elect Nicolas Maduro (center) holds up a certificate declaring him the winner of the electoral race during a majority certification ceremony at the CNE headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 29, 2024.
Jesus Vargas | Getty Images News | Getty Images
In a televised address to the nation on Monday, President Maduro accused the opposition of stoking a “political crisis.”
“We have never been motivated by hatred. On the contrary, we have always been the victims of those in power,” Maduro said, according to the Associated Press. “There is once again an attempt to stage a fascist and counter-revolutionary coup in Venezuela.”
The United States expressed “serious concern” that the published election results do not reflect the will and vote of the Venezuelan people.
The White House has called on Venezuelan electoral authorities to release a complete and detailed tally of the election results.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said “we will reserve judgment until that time” and added, “We and the international community are monitoring closely and will respond accordingly.”
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado speaks to media after the announcement of the results of the 2024 presidential election in Caracas with opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia on July 29, 2024.
Federico Parra | AFP | Getty Images
Venezuela, which boasts the world’s largest oil reserves, has been suffering from a severe political and socio-economic crisis for many years.
Over the past decade, more than 7.7 million people are estimated to have left the country in search of better futures, making it the largest exodus in Latin America’s recent history and one of the largest displacement crises in the world.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says about 20 percent of the country’s population has fled the country since 2014, citing widespread violence, gang warfare, soaring inflation and shortages of food, medicine and basic necessities.