María Corina Machado calls for a “huge” protest “inside and outside Venezuela”

The Venezuelan opposition, led by María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia, called this Saturday for a “huge” protest on December 1 against Nicolás Maduro, who plans to be sworn in in January after being proclaimed re-elected amid allegations of fraud.

“We have to act now, this first is going to be a unique, unprecedented protest, with our hands in red, with courage (…) the entire world is going to concentrate on the cause of a country that has decided to advance to the end,” Machado said in a virtual meeting with opposition leaders and activists.

Let it be “a huge protest inside and outside Venezuela,” added the opponent, who is in hiding after threats from the regime to take her to prison. Machado also promised “firmer, more decisive” actions ahead of January 10, the date on which the president of Venezuela is sworn in.

Machado and his candidate González Urrutia denounced fraud in the elections of July 28, when the National Electoral Council (CNE) proclaimed Maduro the winner without showing detailed scrutiny of the vote.

Dead, detained, in hiding and in exile

The opposition claimed González Urrutia’s victory by ensuring that they had 80% of the copies of the minutes that demonstrated his victory and disseminated them on a website. Protests broke out and left 28 dead, 200 injured and more than 2,400 detained.

The government rejected the ballots and said they were forged, the prosecutor’s office announced an investigation against the opposition leaders and requested the arrest of González Urrutia.

The demonstrations diminished amid reports of a “repressive wave” that also left several activists and opposition leaders detained or in hiding.

González Urrutia ended up going into exile in Spain, but promised that he will be sworn in as president of Venezuela on January 10. “There is no doubt about that,” he reiterated in the virtual meeting.

The opposition hopes that international pressure on the Maduro regime will increase after the recognition of González Urrutia as “elected president” by countries such as the United States, Italy and Ecuador.