MARACAIBO/VALENCIA, Venezuela (WS News) – Dueling rallies were set to take place in Venezuela on Wednesday, as both the opposition and the ruling party urged supporters to mark the one-month anniversary of last month’s disputed election and arrests of opposition figures continued.
Venezuela’s electoral council has proclaimed President Nicolas Maduro, in power since 2013, as the winner of the July 28 election, but has not published complete voting tallies. Venezuela’s opposition has published its own tallies showing a landslide win for its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez.
The disagreement has sparked international calls for the release of full tallies, deadly protests, and moves by authorities to arrest opposition figures and journalists.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado told Reuters on Tuesday that peaceful street protests and international pressure still have the potential to unseat Maduro.
Later that day, opposition groups reported at least two arrests of staff, including a lawyer for Machado’s movement.
“Around the world the cry of Venezuelans is being heard,” Machado – the main face of the opposition – told supporters at a lunchtime rally in Caracas, urging them to keep up pressure and “at the same time protect one another, because what the regime has let loose is brutal.”
Ruling party supporters are expected to gather at a separate rally in the capital later in the day.
In the western oil city of Maracaibo, fewer than 100 opposition supporters gathered for a brief protest early on Wednesday, closely watched by police.
“This is the last gathering I’ll attend, I’m leaving the country on Friday,” said engineering student Stiward Prieto, 23. He said he lost his job at a public power company after the election and that he had to support his elderly father, a retired teacher with diabetes.
