Caracas: A court in Venezuela has sought an arrest warrant for opposition leader and President Nicolas Maduro's presidential rival Edmundo Gonzalez, said the country's Attorney General, over a month after election officials declared Maduro as the winner of the disputed election in July that his opponents say he lost.
The warrant was issued at the request of authorities who accuse Gonzalez of various crimes including conspiracy, falsifying documents and usurpation of powers. This would amount to a major escalation in the Maduro government's crackdown against the opposition following the disputed election. The warrant was issued after Gonzalez failed to appear before the court three times to answer questions from prosecutors in a criminal investigation related to the election results.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab opened the investigation against Gonzalez after he and opposition leader María Corina Machado revealed what they said were the results shown in the tally sheets and published them online. While Venezuela's national election authority and its Supreme Court ratified Maduro's victory in the July 28 election, the opposition showed a resounding victory for Gonzalez.
What are the charges against Gonzalez?
The warrant was issued after prosecutor Luis Ernesto Duenez requested Gonzalez be arrested for usurpation of functions, falsification of public documents, instigation to disobey the law, conspiracy and association, all allegedly committed against the Venezuelan state. A Gonzalez spokesperson said they were awaiting any notification of a warrant but made no further comment. The opposition has always denied any wrongdoing.
"They have lost all notion of reality," opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was barred from contesting the election and lent support to Gonzalez, said on X. "Threatening the President-elect will only achieve more cohesion and increase the support of Venezuelans and the world for Edmundo Gonzalez."
However, top government officials said Gonzalez and other members of the opposition should go to jail. "This man has the nerve to say he doesn't recognise laws, he doesn't recognise anything. What's up with that? That's unacceptable," Maduro said in a broadcast on state television. "Citizens agree that laws have to work and that officials do their job."
What happened in Venezuela?
Last month, Venezuela's Supreme Court backed President Maduro's victory in the elections after widespread protests and opposition from Western countries, saying the voting tallies published by the opposition showing he had lost by a landslide margin were forged. Notably, the court is packed with Maduro loyalists and has almost never ruled against the government.
Venezuela's electoral council proclaimed Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, the winner of the July 28 election with 51 per cent of the vote, despite an overwhelming number of exit polls predicting the victory of Edmundo Gonzalez. The opposition says its tally of 90 per cent of the votes shows that Gonzalez received more than double the support of the incumbent president.
At least 23 protesters have been killed at anti-government demonstrations since the election, and some 2,400 arrested, according to the United Nations. Maduro called the demonstrators extremists and fascists. Many Western countries have urged full publication of the results, while Russia, China and others have congratulated Maduro on his victory. The electoral council says a cyber attack on election night has prevented its publication of the full tallies.
Since the vote and deadly anti-government protests which followed, Maduro's administration has conducted what the opposition, human rights groups and unions have characterised as a crackdown on dissent. The actions have included arrests of opposition figures and protesters, an investigation into opposition leaders for allegedly inciting the military to commit crimes, the passage of a law tightening rules on NGOs, and forced resignations of state employees allegedly espousing pro-opposition views.
(with agency input)
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