Venezuela is wracked with protests and election uncertainty. Here’s what to know

By CNN

 Criticism is mounting against Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro after protests erupted across the country on Monday over this weekend’s disputed presidential election.

At least six people died during the protests against the presidential election results, where Maduro was announced the winner by the country’s electoral commission, according to non-governmental organization Foro Penal in a post on social media. CNN has not yet been able to verify the death toll but has reached out to the Venezuelan police.

Venezuelan authorities say more than 700 people were detained in the protests. An important opposition figure was allegedly kidnapped, according to his supporters, while the country’s army, which has long backed Maduro, reaffirmed their support of the strongman.

The election on Sunday was seen as the most consequential one in years, with Venezuela’s stalling democracy and hopes of recovering its shattered economy on the line.

Though Maduro had promised fair and free elections, the process has been marred with allegations of foul play – with opposition figures arrested, the opposition’s key leader banned from running, opposition witnesses allegedly being denied access to the centralized vote count, and overseas Venezuelans largely unable to vote.

Many young opposition supporters said they would leave the country if authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro was re-elected, pointing to the devastating collapse of the country’s economy and violent repression under his rule. But an energized opposition movement, which enjoyed strong polling figures prior to Sunday’s vote, was seen as the ruling establishment’s toughest challenge in 25 years.

That’s why when Maduro was formally named the winner by the country’s electoral body – which is stacked by the president’s allies – the opposition rejected the results and other Latin American leaders have refused to recognize his win.

Criticism of the regime continued on Tuesday, with the Organization of American States (OAS) saying the election results could not be recognized due to a lack of transparency and evidence.

“The regime of Nicolás Maduro has once again betrayed the Venezuelan people, declaring that it respects the popular will while doing everything possible to manipulate and ignore that will,” an OAS report concluded.

Here’s what you need to know.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro after the presidential election results were announced in Caracas on July 29, 2024. Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images

Who’s running against who?

Maduro has been in power since the 2013 death of his predecessor Hugo Chávez. If he takes office again, it will be his third consecutive six-year term and the continuation of “Chavismo,” the left-wing populist ideology named after the former leader.

On the other side is a unified opposition movement that overcame their divisions to form a coalition. Its energized campaign stoked hope among a disillusioned populace that was desperate for change, in a country in such dire economic straits that some 8 million Venezuelans have fled overseas.

The opposition candidate, former diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez, stepped into the role after the highly popular, center-right leader Maria Corina Machado, an avowed capitalist who was barred from running, following allegations she didn’t include some food vouchers on her asset declaration.

But many still see her as a driving force behind the opposition, which had promised to restore Venezuela’s democracy and rebuild its once impressive economy if it won.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado (right) and presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez (left) hold a news conference after Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner of the election in Caracas, Venezuela on July 29, 2024. Matias Delacroix/AP

Who won?

The results are disputed. Officially, the National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Maduro the winner late Sunday, with 80% of the ballots counted. It said Maduro had won 51.2% of the votes, while Gonzalez received 44.2% of the votes.

The CNE has yet to issue final vote tallies.

But the opposition has rejected the results, claiming their own tallies showed Gonzalez had won. On Monday, they said they had obtained more than 73% of the tally sheets showing more than 6 million votes for Gonzalez and only 2.7 million for Maduro.

Speaking from the capital Caracas, Gonzalez and Machado said all their tallies had been verified and shared online for the public and global leaders to see – something world leaders and opposition figures have called on the CNE to do.

Maduro pledged to release all voting data in a private conversation Monday with Brazilian foreign policy envoy Celso Amorim, according to a source who was knowledgeable about the conversation.

Brazilian President Lula said the only way to end the electoral dispute in Venezuela is to publish the vote tallies. “There is a fight. How do you solve the fight? Publish the tallies,” Lula da Silva said in an interview aired on Brazilian broadcaster Globo.

Lula said Maduro and the opposition must present their results. If there are discrepancies, the opposition should file an appeal and await a legal decision, he said. He also criticized the effects of “external management” from other countries, adding that the international community has the “obligation” to accept the results once the tallies are released.

Losing power could have devastating consequences for Maduro, who is facing drug trafficking and corruption charges in the US and is under investigation for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. If he was to relinquish control without an agreement in place, he could end up in prison.

The vote’s outcome is expected to be felt across the Americas – including the US – in the form of migration.

What are the allegations of foul play?

Opposition leaders decried alleged irregularities on Sunday as the votes were being processed and counted.

The opposition said its witnesses were denied access to the National Electoral Council (CNE) headquarters as votes were being counted; their presence was supposed to ensure transparency and fairness.

Only a very limited number of election observers were allowed to monitor the vote. These included The Carter Center, which called on the CNE to publish polling station-level results, saying that information was “critical to our assessment.”

A preliminary report from the Carter Center was scheduled to release on Tuesday morning, but the organization canceled its publication and is pulling all its staff from the country, according to a person with knowledge of the center’s plans. It is unclear when the report will be issued.

The United Nations was also present, with a spokesperson saying afterward that UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for “complete transparency” and for the electoral body to “undertake their work independently and without interference to guarantee the free expression of the will of the electorate.”

The opposition also alleged that the CNE had halted data being sent from polling stations to the central body, thus preventing more votes from being processed.

The government has also been accused of rigging votes in the past, which it has denied. Maduro’s government controls almost all state institutions, including the CNE, which was accused in 2017 of manipulating turnout figures by a software company that provided the voting technology. The CNE previously denied the assertion.

CNN reached out to the CNE for comment on Monday. The body has not yet addressed the opposition’s allegations.

How are Venezuelans reacting?

Though Maduro supporters celebrated his win in parts of Caracas, Monday was marked by wider protests by the opposition.

In Caracas, hundreds of people marched through the streets, waving Venezuelan flags and chanting, “Liberty!”

Videos from across the country, from Charallave to Caucagüita, show crowds banging their pots — a rattling cacophony so loud it can be heard from far away across an entire city. This Latin American practice is known as cacerolazo – a spontaneous, accessible form of protest also used in Chile and Spain.

CNN teams witnessed dozens of national guard soldiers in riot gear repressing the mostly peaceful protests with tear gas and batons.

A demonstrator reacts as Molotov cocktails hit the ground in front of security forces during protests in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, on July 29, 2024. Samir Aponte/Reuters

“We want peace for Venezuela, for our family members,” a protester, who chose not to be identified, told reporting teams on the ground.

Gonzalez and Machado have called for protests to continue Tuesday.

Maduro decried the protests on Monday saying his government “knows how to confront this situation and defeat those who are violent.” He also claimed, without providing evidence, that the majority of the protestors were hate-filled criminals and that their plan was hatched in the US.

Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab said 749 people had been detained in Monday’s protests. Saab rejected the notion that the demonstrations were peaceful, claiming that they resulted in the injuries of 48 military and police officers.

Meanwhile, Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López called the protests an attempted coup d’état and said that the armed forces reaffirmed their “absolute loyalty and unconditional support” to Maduro.

The Venezuelan opposition political party Voluntad Popular said Tuesday that its leader Freddy Superlano has been kidnapped. Several people dressed in black allegedly intercepted the car in which Superlano was traveling, forcibly removed him and put him in a van, according to a video that the party published on social media.

CNN is trying to contact the Venezuelan authorities to get their version of this complaint.

A resident of Caracas who did not want to be identified over safety concerns told CNN they witnessed the incident. “Around 9.40 a.m., I heard some trucks and brakes,” he told CNN. “Several hooded individuals with long weapons get out of the gray truck. They start hitting the car windows with their weapons.”

According to the local, two passengers inside the car that was being targeted were then taken. “Everything happened in less than three minutes.”

For Venezuelans this is grimly familiar territory. Previous periods of opposition protests have resulted in harsh crackdowns from by the police and military, who have a long history of protecting the Chavismo system, including in 2017 and 2019.

Police and protesters clashed in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 29, 2024, with police firing tear gas to disperse large crowds. Matias Delacroix/AP

What is the world saying?

Many regional and world leaders have cast doubt on the results, including the United States – though some of Venezuela’s partners have stood by Maduro.

“We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people. It’s critical that every vote be counted fairly and transparently, that election officials immediately share information with the opposition and independent observers without delay,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on Monday.

The foreign ministers and offices of several European nations, including the United Kingdom and Spain, voiced similar concerns.

The OAS’s electoral observation department said the CNE’s election results cannot be recognized due to a lack of transparency and evidence. In a 23-page report, OAS said CNE failed to provide details of the ballots processed when it declared President Maduro the winner.

It also said that other factors make it impossible to grant “democratic recognition” to the official results. These include CNE’s resistance to national and international observation, a reluctance to allow witnesses from the opposition to enter voting centers, and a “contradiction between the announced percentages and the citizen verification exercises,” among other things.

The report accused the Maduro government of political persecution of opposition leaders, noting in particular Machado’s disqualification as a candidate.

Other Latin American countries, including Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay refused to recognize the results and had their diplomatic staff in country expelled Monday.

The Maduro government accused the nations of being a “group of right-wing Washington-subordinate governments, openly committed to the most sordid fascist ideological positions.”

Some of Maduro’s close allies, like China, Cuba, Iran and Russia, were quick to congratulate Maduro.

On Tuesday, Venezuela’s main international airport was rammed with travelers attempting to beat the suspension of commercial flights to and from Panama and the Dominican Republic. Venezuela’s transport minister said flights were being suspended to those countries over what it considered “interventionist actions of right-wing governments.”

Panama is considered a major transit hub connecting South, Central and North America, including the US.

How did Venezuela get here in the first place?

Once the fifth-largest economy in Latin America, Venezuela has experienced the worst economic collapse of a peacetime country in recent history.

The economic and political crisis brought about by a crash in the price of oil – a key export for Venezuela – combined with chronic corruption and mismanagement at the hands of government officials.

Venezuela is now suffering chronic shortages of vital goods and soaring inflation, while the goods available are too expensive for most people – pushing millions to flee, including thousands who have trekked up north to the US’ southern border.

The US and European Union have imposed punishing sanctions on Maduro’s regime for years, which he has blamed for the crisis, saying Venezuela was victim of an “economic war.”

Last year, Maduro had pledged to hold fair and free elections in exchange for sanctions relief, in US-brokered talks. But after Sunday’s elections, the accusations of fraud now cast doubt on whether Venezuela will be able to return to the international stage.