By Vivian Sequera and Mircely Guanipa
CARACAS/MARACAY (Reuters) -Venezuelan opposition parties and their supporters were holding protests around the country on Thursday in an eleventh-hour effort to put pressure on President Nicolas Maduro, one day before he is due to be sworn in for his third six-year term.
The opposition and the ruling party are locked in an ongoing dispute over last year’s presidential election, which they both claim to have won.
The country’s electoral authority and top court say Maduro, whose time in office has been marked by a deep economic and social crisis, won the July vote, though they have never published detailed tallies.
The government, who has accused the opposition of fomenting fascist plots against it, said it will arrest opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez should he return to the country and has detained prominent opposition members and activists in the lead-up to the inauguration.
The opposition says Gonzalez, 75, won in a landslide. It has published its own vote tallies as evidence, winning support from governments around the world, including the United States, who consider Gonzalez the president-elect.
Maria Corina Machado, who is the country’s most popular opposition leader but who was barred from running in 2024, has pledged to join the protesters on Thursday.
Her appearance would mark her first public outing since she went into hiding in August.
Machado, 57, has urged protesters to peacefully flood the streets and repeatedly asked members of the police and military – who guarded polling stations during the election – to back Gonzalez’s victory.
“I’m not afraid, I lost my fear a long time ago,” said 70-year-old Niegalos Payares, a retired worker at the central bank, as she gathered with other opposition supporters in western Caracas.
“We don’t know how many of them have their heart on our side,” she added, gesturing at security forces who had gathered near the protest.
Maduro, 62, has been in power since 2013. He has the vociferous support of leaders in the armed forces and the intelligence services, which are run by close allies of powerful Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello.
“I am convinced nothing will happen,” Cabello said on state television on Monday. “But that doesn’t mean we will lower our guard.”
The military’s financial interests make loyalty shifts unlikely, said BancTrust, a London investment bank, in a note. “A limited military rebellion would entail significant risks for those involved, thus diminishing incentives to participate,” it wrote.
‘WE HAVE NO WORK’
Security forces set up checkpoints around the country.
In the western oil city of Maracaibo an opposition protest of dozens of people was quickly dispersed by motorcycle-mounted security forces by late morning. In central Valencia, protesters were met with tear gas.
Opposition supporters also gathered in San Cristobal, near the border with Colombia, and in the western city of Barquisimeto.
“I’m here because we need to get rid of this government – we have no money, we have no work,” 62-year-old housewife Roisa Gomez said at a protest in central Maracay. “I’m fighting for my vote, which I cast for Edmundo Gonzalez. They cannot steal the election.”
Soon afterward, security forces used tear gas to disperse the Maracay protesters.
The ruling party is expected to host rival marches nationwide.
“We’ve come out to show that there is a democracy. On this side are the patriots who will be sworn in with Nicolas (Maduro), on the other side are fascists who want (foreign) intervention, war, to sell their country,” said 50-year-old Caracas motorcycle taxi driver Manual Rincon.
Gonzalez, who has been on a tour of the Americas this week and met with U.S. President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump’s national security advisor, has repeatedly pledged to return to Venezuela but given no details about how.
An arrest warrant was issued for Gonzalez for alleged conspiracy, prompting his September flight to Spain.
Machado is being investigated by the attorney general in at least two cases, but no warrant for her has been made public.
The government has detained several high-profile politicians and activists, including a former presidential candidate. This week, the attorney general’s office said it had freed more than 1,500 of the 2,000 people, including teenagers, detained during post-election protests.
(Reporting by Vivian Sequera in Caracas and Mircely Guanipa in Maracay, additional reporting by Mariela Nava in Maracaibo, Tathiana Oriz in San Cristobal, Kerne Torres in Barquisimeto, Maria Ramirez in Puerto Ordaz and Tibisay Romero in ValenciaWriting by Julia Symmes CobbEditing by Rosalba O’Brien)
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