Machado Urges Maduro to Accept Defeat as Protests Sweep Venezuela

Caracas, Venezuela – María Corina Machado, the opposition leader challenging Nicolás Maduro’s authoritarian regime, has urged the Venezuelan president to accept that his exit from power is inevitable. This call comes amidst growing protests against Maduro’s disputed claim of winning a third term in Sunday’s election.

The government-controlled electoral authority officially proclaimed Maduro the victor of the election on Monday morning. Despite widespread international doubts over the legitimacy of his victory, Maduro declared his win “irreversible.”

In an interview with the Guardian, Machado, a charismatic conservative figure, urged Maduro to acknowledge the end of his 11-year rule, which has seen Venezuela plunge into a devastating economic and humanitarian crisis, forcing millions to flee the country.

He should understand that he was defeated,” Machado said, referring to Maduro, who was democratically elected after the 2013 death of his mentor, President Hugo Chávez, but has since led Venezuela in an increasingly repressive and anti-democratic direction.

Machado rejected Maduro’s claim that his re-election was “irreversible.” “I would say his departure is irreversible,” she stated.

Earlier, Machado and Edmundo González, a former diplomat who ran for the presidency in her place after she was banned, claimed they had evidence that González had secured a landslide victory in Sunday’s vote. Maduro has claimed he beat González with over 5.1 million votes to his rival’s 4.4 million. However, Machado, often referred to as Venezuela’s “iron lady,” insisted that her candidate had prevailed with over 6.2 million votes compared to Maduro’s 2.7 million.

“Edmundo González is the president-elect,” Machado declared to ecstatic cheers from hundreds of supporters gathered outside their hillside campaign headquarters beneath Caracas’s towering El Ávila mountain.

As Machado addressed the crowd, thousands of protesters remained on the streets of Caracas and other cities, following a day of demonstrations that saw several violent clashes with security forces and pro-Maduro paramilitaries. Remarkably, many of these protesters came from sprawling hillside slums long considered bastions of the Chavismo movement that has governed Venezuela for the last 25 years.

Rafael Cantillo, a 45-year-old resident of the vast working-class enclave called Petare, expressed his anger. Maduro stole these elections … it’s a swindle – everyone knows it,” he said.

Nearby, another community leader from Petare, Katiuska Camargo, claimed Maduro had suffered a conclusive defeat in such communities where residents were tired of the deprivation his administration had overseen. “This man did not win. He did not!” she said as the crowd swelled.

Throughout the day, social media was filled with reports of opposition marches originating in poor communities across town and clashes with security forces and pro-Maduro motorbike gangs known as colectivos, who were filmed shooting into the air.

“What is happening isn’t just fraud, it is a coup d’état,” said Jesús Herrera, a 37-year-old cook, as he joined one march. Herrera said the people who had taken to the streets were “moved by [Maduro’s] lie.” “It’s such an obvious lie,” he said of the president’s claim to have won re-election when polls had given his rival a major lead. “Everyone thinks the same thing.”

Protests also occurred in other parts of Venezuela, with at least three statues of Hugo Chávez torn down during the day. Many compared these scenes to the dramatic images of a statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled in downtown Baghdad during the Iraq war. In Portuguesa state, protesters were filmed vandalizing a propaganda billboard featuring a photograph of Maduro and a slogan promising “More changes and transformation.”

On Monday night, there were reports that protesters had stormed the Maiquetía international airport on the coast just north of Caracas. At least one incoming flight was delayed.

Maduro’s allies, who blame Venezuela’s economic woes on U.S. sanctions, called for their own protests on Tuesday afternoon in an attempt to show popular support, likely to further inflame tensions on the streets of Caracas.

In a televised address, Maduro claimed groups of “delinquents” had invaded the regional offices of the electoral authority in the city of Coro. The president said such actions were part of “a violent counter-revolution” being waged by criminal and fascist far-right extremists.

“The law must be respected,” Maduro declared, claiming such activities were designed to spark “an escalation of violence” that would ultimately lead to the opposition’s “golden dream – seizing power.”

“The gringos are behind this plan,” Maduro claimed.