One dead in Venezuela as protesters teargassed in wake of disputed vote

  • 3 months ago

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Transcript
00:00But first, an angry clashes broke out between police and protesters in Venezuela's capital,
00:05Caracas. At least one person died as police tried to break up those demonstrations,
00:11triggered by a hotly disputed election result that gave the President Nicolás Maduro a third
00:16term in power. This despite widespread accusations of fraud and without the
00:22government releasing full vote counts. The US and other countries denouncing the result.
00:30It's not fair. How long are they going to attack us for?
00:36We're Venezuelans and they want to kill us because we're demonstrating for the truth.
00:42It isn't fair. For how much longer will we have to suffer for all of this?
00:49I have a son and I don't want him to suffer the same fate.
00:52I reject what the police are doing. Look at what they are doing.
00:56Why? Because we're standing up for the truth.
01:26Nicolás Maduro did hint at some more possible crackdown on those protesters,
01:31saying we know how to confront the situation and how to defeat those who are violent.
01:38In the meantime, before these protests take place today, the sort of blame game is continuing
01:45on both sides. Nicolás Maduro, who has accused those who have criticized the elections,
01:52who have questioned the result of the election, saying that it was an attempted coup
01:57of a fascist and counter-revolutionary nature. He also said that he had avoided bloodshed.
02:07This is a reference to something he said before the election took place,
02:10saying that if he were to lose this election, there would be bloodshed.
02:16His attorney general has now accused the opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado,
02:21of organizing an alleged cyber attack on the electoral system to alter the results of the
02:29elections without giving any proof of those accusations. Meanwhile, the opposition is
02:35standing firmly in its claim that they have actually won these elections. They say that
02:42they have more than 70% of the tally sheets. These are very important because this is really
02:48where the controversy lies. They say they have 70% of the tally sheets that show
02:54that the opposition candidate got more than twice the number of votes than Maduro did,
03:00but they also have yet to release those tally sheets to give those proof. This is really where
03:08the problem is, is that the Electoral Commission has not released these tally sheets from the
03:15polling stations to show how they claim to have won the election or that Nicolás Maduro has won
03:21the election. And this is something that is technically required by Venezuelan law.
03:27Now, in the meantime, Washington has denounced the result, as have other countries, correct?
03:32Yes, many countries denouncing the results and expressing their concerns about how these
03:39elections were carried out and going back to these tallies, asking the Electoral Commission
03:45to publish those results, to publish the details of those results. Basically, the message,
03:51especially from Washington, is you claim that you have won. If you have won, it would be easy
03:56to prove that you have won. Just show us those election tallies like you're supposed to.
04:01There have been some countries who have congratulated Nicolás Maduro, those that you
04:06would expect, the traditional allies of Venezuela, China, Russia, Cuba. But a lot of countries,
04:14especially in South America, have expressed at least concerns, if not really casting doubt on
04:23those results. For example, Chile's president, Gabriel Boric, calling those results, quote,
04:27hard to believe. While the Uruguayan foreign minister said that his government would never
04:33recognize Maduro as the winner of these elections. You have major countries like Brazil or Colombia
04:41urging a review of those results. And some have even taken the step, like Peru, of recalling
04:48their ambassador, or like Panama, of announcing that they would suspend their diplomatic relations.
04:55The Organization of American States, which is based in Washington, D.C., is set to hold an
05:00emergency meeting this Wednesday to discuss the situation in Venezuela and how to go forward.
05:08And of course, as you can expect, Venezuela really dismissing and rejecting all of these
05:14foreign comments or criticism, calling it interventionist actions and statements.
05:21That has withdrawn diplomatic staff from at least seven countries by now.
05:28And the context of those international criticism is also the fact that over the past decade,
05:34there have been nearly 8 million Venezuelans who have emigrated to countries in South America,
05:39but also to the United States. So they are particularly looking at that situation.

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