Opposition leader vows 'empty' polling stations for Venezuelan legislative vote
Opposition leader vows 'empty' polling stations for Venezuelan legislative vote
CARACAS: Venezuelan opposition leader
Maria Corina Machado
, who has called for a boycott of May 25 gubernatorial and legislative elections, on Thursday vowed polling stations would be "empty" 10 months after President
Nicolas Maduro
's disputed reelection.
The regional vote, she told AFP in a Zoom interview, was a "huge farce that the regime wants to stage to bury its defeat of July 28" when Maduro claimed victory in a presidential poll that Machado's party, and most of the international community, says the opposition won.
"May 25 will be a huge defeat for the regime because it will find itself absolutely alone," Machado said, vowing a mass voter boycott that would leave "all the (voting) centers empty."
Venezuela's opposition is split on whether or not to participate in the May 25 vote for lawmakers and governors.
The main opposition movement led by Machado has called for a boycott, while a smaller group led by two-time former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles has said it will participate.
Maduro used the security forces to crush protests over his claim to have won a third six-year term fair and square.
Despite the strong support he still enjoys from the security forces, Machado claimed there were divisions within his ranks and that the government was "in a state of great vulnerability."
In 2020, the opposition boycotted parliamentary elections, having won a majority in the legislature five years earlier.
Their absence allowed Maduro's allies to regain control of parliament and pass increasingly oppressive laws, according to rights groups.
The opposition had also boycotted 2018 presidential elections in which Maduro claimed reelection to a second term rejected by most of the international community, just like the third term he claimed last July.
Machado's Democratic Unity Platform (PUD) published its own tally of polling station-level results, which it says proves opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia had won two-thirds of the votes cast.
Machado, who has been in hiding since July but made a brief appearance at a protest in Caracas on the eve of Maduro's inauguration in January, has said participating in this month's election would give validation to a corrupt process.
Maduro's ruling party has announced candidate lists for governors, including for the disputed oil-rich region of Essequibo that has been administered by Guyana for more than a century.
Capriles, the former presidential candidate whose group has announced plans to field candidates, argues that there is "no other path" but the ballot box to dislodge Maduro, who has clung on through years of crippling US sanctions.
Some opposition members argue that the sanctions have hurt ordinary Venezuelans, battered by hyperinflation and biting shortages of basic goods, more than the country's authoritarian leader.
"The only person responsible for the sanctions is Nicolas Maduro," Machado said, vowing to continue her struggle against his rule "to the end."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
39 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Teen boy, accused in Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe's shooting, pleads ‘not guilty'
A 15-year-old boy, who is accused of trying to assassinate Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe, pled "not guilty" on Tuesday, news agency AFP reported, citing the prosecutor's office. The teenager was formally charged with the attempted murder of 39-year-old conservative candidate Uribe, who was shot twice in the back of his head on Saturday during a campaign rally in Bogota. Additionally, the teenager was also charged with carrying a firearm. Meanwhile, Uribe's doctors at the Bogota hospital said that he remained in a critical condition, "fighting for his life". The alleged gunman was apprehended at the scene by the security guards, who recovered a Glock nine-millimetre pistol from his possession. Police said they believed that the boy was a "sicario" or a hitman working for money, the AFP report mentioned. If found guilty, the boy could face eight years in detention as he is a minor. Giving people an update on Uribe's condition, who is still critical, his wife Maria Claudia Tarazona, said, "No family in Colombia should be going through this," adding that, "There is no name for this - it's not pain, it's not horror, it's not sadness." Authorities, investigating the assassination attempt, said that they were also probing several other angles to ascertain the motive behind the shooting. Colombia's President Gustavo Petro has reportedly alleged that an international crime ring is behind the attack on Uribe. However, he did not provide any specific details or evidence of the same. Miguel Uribe was shot in the El Golfito Park in the Modelia neighbourhood of Bogota's Fontibon district on Saturday during a public gathering. The right-wing opposition leader and a presidential candidate from the Democratic Centre was meeting with his supporters when he was shot from behind. Notably, Uribe was a critic of Petro's security strategy aimed at ending six decades of armed conflict in Colombia. The 39-year-old conservative leader had argued that Petro's approach of halting offensives on armed groups despite failed peace talks only backfired. At the time of the shooting, Uribe had two government-assigned bodyguards protecting him, the head of the National Protection Unit said on Monday. Uribe's lawyer, Victor Mosquera, meanwhile, said that he had repeatedly asked for more security for the leader.
Economic Times
3 hours ago
- Economic Times
Trump deploys Marines, raising tensions in Los Angeles protests
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Hundreds of Marines were due to arrive in Los Angeles on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump ordered their deployment in response to protests against immigration arrests and despite objections by state 700 crack troops will join National Guard soldiers, amping up the militarization of the tense situation in the sprawling city, which is home to millions of foreign-born and Latino largely peaceful demonstrations -- marred by sporadic but violent clashes between police and protesters -- were entering their fifth day. The unrest was sparked by a sudden intensification of Trump's signature campaign to deport illegal migrants, with raids conducted on downtown LA's Little Tokyo neighborhood at night Monday, scores of protesters faced off with security officials in riot gear, some shooting fireworks at officers who fired back volleys of tear demonstrators marching with banners and handmade signs yelled "ICE out of LA" and "National Guard go away" -- a reference to immigration agents and Guard officials have stressed the majority of protesters have been peaceful -- and that they were capable of maintaining law and order Governor Gavin Newsom wrote on X that US Marines "shouldn't be deployed on American soil facing their own countrymen to fulfill the deranged fantasy of a dictatorial President. This is un-American."Trump, meanwhile, has branded the LA protesters "professional agitators and insurrectionists.""If I didn't 'SEND IN THE TROOPS' to Los Angeles the last three nights, that once beautiful and great City would be burning to the ground right now," he wrote on Truth Social on small business owner in the city, whose property was graffitied during the protests, was supportive of Trump's strong-arm tactics."I think it's needed to stop the vandalism," she told AFP, declining to give her were horrified."They're meant to be protecting us, but instead, they're like, being sent to attack us," Kelly Diemer, 47, told AFP. "This is not a democracy anymore."Police have detained dozens of protesters in LA in the recent days, while authorities in San Francisco and other US cities have also made arrests.- 'Incredibly rare' -Trump's use of the military is an "incredibly rare" move for a US president, Rachel VanLandingham, a professor at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles and a former lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force, told National Guard -- a fully equipped reserve armed forces -- is usually controlled by state governors and used typically on US soil in response to natural Guard has not been deployed by a president over the objections of a state governor since 1965, at the height of the civil rights of regular troops, such as the Marines, on US soil is even more law largely prevents the use of the military as a policing force -- absent an insurrection. Speculation is growing that Trump could invoke the Insurrection Act giving him a free hand to use regular troops for law enforcement around the Pentagon said late Monday that Trump had authorized an extra 2,000 state guardsmen to state of California has sued to block the use of the Guard troops and Newsom said he would also sue against the Marines deployment.
Hindustan Times
3 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
At least 4 dead as bombings, gun attacks hit Southwest Colombia
Southwest Colombia was rocked by a string of explosions and gun attacks that left at least four people dead Tuesday, police said, in what appeared to be a coordinated wave of attacks designed to sow terror. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attacks, but guerrillas who broke away from the once-powerful FARC rebel army are known to operate in that part of Colombia. The attacks hit Cali -- the country's third largest city -- and several nearby towns, targeting police stations and other municipal buildings. The National Police chief, Carlos Fernando Triana, told La FM radio that assailants had attacked targets with car bombs, motorcycle bombs, rifle fire and a suspected drone. "There are two police officers dead, and a number of members of the public are also dead," he said. Police later said at least two civilians were among those killed, and 12 others were injured. In the town of Corinto, an AFP journalist witnessed the tangled wreckage of a car that had exploded, and a scorched and badly damaged municipal building. Corinto resident Luz Amparo was at home when the blast also gutted her bakery. "We thought it was an earthquake" she told AFP. "My husband said 'no, they are shooting.'" Her phone began to ring of the hook, and she went to her check on her store. As she rounded the corner the neighbors began to look in her direction. "Everything was levelled," she said. Triana suggested the attacks may be linked to the third anniversary of the killing of FARC dissident leader Leider Johani Noscue, better known as "Mayimbu." The bombings came days after the attempted assassination of a presidential candidate in Bogota, a brazen attack that already had the country on edge. Conservative senator Miguel Uribe, 39, was shot twice in the head at close range by a 15-year-old alleged hitman while campaigning Saturday. That attack has stunned Colombians and prompted speculation about who was responsible. Thousands have taken to the streets in major cities to light candles, pray and voice their anger at the assassination attempt. Many Colombians are fearful of a return to the violence of the 1980s and 1990s, when cartel attacks, guerrilla violence and political assassinations were commonplace.
