In Venezuela, anti-government protests erupted Monday after Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner of Sunday’s election. Venezuela’s National Electoral Council said Maduro won 51% of the vote, defeating opposition candidate Edmundo González. But opposition leader María Corina Machado claims she has proof of fraud.
María Corina Machado: “At this moment, I am very excited to tell everyone that we have 73.20% of the voting tallies. … And with this result, our president-elect is Edmundo González Urrutia.”
Maduro and election observers accuse the opposition of attempting to stage a coup. Venezuela’s attorney general accused Machado of attempting to hack elections systems, saying the alleged cyberattack delayed reporting on vote tallies.
International response to the election has been mixed. China, Cuba, Honduras, Russia, Iran and Nicaragua congratulated Maduro on his reelection. Mexico also said it would recognize the election results. Meanwhile, seven Latin American nations signed a joint letter calling for a complete review of the election results. Venezuela responded to the letter by pulling diplomatic staff from the countries: Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, Dominican Republic and Uruguay. We will have more on Venezuela later in the program.