Venezuela’s Maduro defies calls to step down, be sworn in for third term – National
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has been in power for nearly 12 years, was sworn in for a third term on Friday, despite a six-month election dispute. an increase in the US reward offered for his capture.
Maduro, president since 2013, was declared the winner of the July election by Venezuela’s electoral authorities and the supreme court, although detailed statistics confirming his victory have not been published.
The opposition party in Venezuela says that the statistics at the ballot boxes show a resounding victory for the candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, who has been honored as the president-elect in many countries, including the United States. International election observers said the vote was not democratic.
The months since the election have seen Gonzalez flee to Spain in September, his colleague Maria Corina Machado go into hiding in Venezuela, and the arrest of opposition officials and protesters.
In the latest day in a series of punitive measures, the outgoing Biden administration increased its reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Maduro on drug-trafficking charges to $25 million, up from $15 million.
It also issued a $25 million reward for Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and a $15 million reward for Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, as well as new sanctions against eight other officials including the head of state oil company PDVSA Hector Obregon.
The US indicted Maduro and others on drug and corruption charges, among others, in 2020. Maduro dismissed these allegations.
The US move coincided with sanctions by Britain and the European Union each targeting fifteen officials, including members of the National Electoral Council and the defense force, and Canadian sanctions targeting 14 current and former officials.
Maduro’s government has been rejecting all sanctions, saying the illegal measures amount to “economic warfare” designed to cripple Venezuela.
“The outgoing government of the United States does not know how to take revenge on us,” Maduro said during his speech, without specifically mentioning the sanctions.
Venezuela’s Ministry of Communications did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sanctions.
Maduro and his allies have cheered what they say is the country’s resilience despite the measures, though they have historically blamed some economic hardship and a lack of sanctions.
Gonzalez, who is on a whistle-blowing trip to the Americas this week, said he will return to Venezuela to pick up the president’s mantle, but did not provide details.
The government, which has accused the opposition of fomenting fascist plots against it, said Gonzalez would be arrested if he returned and offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to his capture.
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Opposition leaders Gonzalez and Machado are each expected to speak later on Friday.
Both are being investigated by the attorney general’s office for conspiracy, but only Gonzalez has a warrant for his arrest.
Machado’s first public appearance since August at an anti-government march in Caracas on Thursday was interrupted by a brief arrest.
His political organization Vente Venezuela said Machado was shot and taken off the motorcycle he was leaving the event with. He was then caught and forced to record several videos, it said.
One video shared on social media and by government officials showed him sitting on the side of the road recounting the loss of his wallet.
The government ridiculed the incident and denied involvement.
About 42 people have been arrested for political reasons since Tuesday, said the legal NGO Foro Penal.
Maduro was sworn in at a national assembly in Caracas and said he was swearing in the name of the sixteenth-century indigenous leader Guaicaipuro and the late President Hugo Chavez, his mentor, among others.
“May this new term of the president be an era of peace, prosperity, equality and a new democracy,” Maduro said, adding that he would call a commission responsible for constitutional changes.
“This action is possible because Venezuela is peaceful, it fully uses its national sovereignty, its popular sovereignty, its national independence,” said Maduro.
About 2,000 guests from 125 countries attended the inauguration, according to the government.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, allies of Maduro, attended as did Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the Russian parliament.
Venezuela has closed its borders and airspace to Colombia for 72 hours starting at 0500 local time (1000 GMT), the Foreign Ministry in Bogota said in a statement, adding that the border on the Colombian side will remain open.
Opposition groups, non-governmental organizations and international organizations such as the United Nations have for years criticized the repression of opposition groups, activists and independent media in Venezuela.
US President Donald Trump said the country is run by a dictator.
Meanwhile, the government has repeatedly accused the opposition of conspiring with foreign governments and agencies including the Central Intelligence Agency to carry out acts of sabotage and terrorism.
The government said this week it had arrested seven “militants” including a senior FBI official and a top US military official.
Venezuela’s economy has been in a long crisis marked by triple-digit inflation and the exodus of more than 7 million migrants seeking better opportunities abroad.
Many of Machado’s supporters, among them retired Venezuelans who would like to see their children and grandchildren return to the country, say jobs, inflation and unreliable public services are among their biggest concerns.
The government, on the other hand, has used the usual methods to try to end inflation, with some success. Maduro said this month the economy grew by 9% last year.
About 2,000 people were arrested in the protests following the elections. The government said this week it has released 1,515 of them.
Gonzalez, 75, said his son-in-law was kidnapped on Tuesday while he was taking his children to school.
Reporting by Oliver Griffin and Julia Symmes Cobb in Bogota, Matt Spetalnick in Washington and Marianna Parraga and Gary McWilliams in Houston Writing by Oliver Griffin and Julia Symmes Cobb Editing by Daniel Wallis and Alistair Bell
