LA GUAIRA, Venezuela (AP) — The controversial outcome of the recent presidential elections in Venezuela, which according to an entity (the CNE) controlled by chavismo, gave victory to the authoritarian president Nicolás Maduro, triggered violent protests throughout the country since early Monday morning.
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Without providing minutes or any document to support the information, the National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Maduro's victory with 5,150,092 votes (51.20%) against 4,445,978 (44.2%) for Edmundo González. The CNE's website has been down since Sunday night.
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The opposition claims to have records certifying their victory.
A series of countries, such as the United States, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, and Peru, rejected the results, and on Tuesday the Organization of American States (OAS) urged Nicolás Maduro to acknowledge his defeat in the Venezuelan presidential elections or call for a new, more transparent vote.
What happened to the statues of Chávez?
In the suspicion of electoral fraud, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have taken to the streets to protest and many of them focused their attacks on the giant statues of former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, the architect and inspiration of the regime, who passed away in 2013.
At least six statues were toppled in the last few hours.
In the city of La Guaira, on the outskirts of Caracas, on Tuesday there were only twisted bars and pieces of concrete at the base of a statue of Chávez that had been erected in 2017. A video provided to The Associated Press by a person who participated in the protest showed the moment when the 3.5-meter tall effigy of the former president, popularly known as "The Commander", was being torn down amid shouts of "this government will fall".
After knocking it down, the statue was dragged across the square by motorcyclists, doused in gasoline, and set on fire," as described by the person, who asked not to be identified for fear of being arrested. "It's a powerful symbol," they said. "Every time we attack one of their symbols, it's like taking away their strength."
A statue was also destroyed in Valencia.
This is not the first time protesters have attacked monuments dedicated to the founder of the so-called Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela. Similar incidents occurred in 2017 and 2019 during a series of protests against the government.
Threats from the Maduro regime
A military intelligence officer dressed in civilian clothing approached journalists who were trying to take photographs of what was left of the monument in La Guaira. The officer, who did not identify himself, said that the country is "at war" and that any attempt to disrespect Chávez was offensive to millions of Venezuelans.
In turn, Nicolás Maduro reacted with indignation to the images in a speech on Monday night: “What is going on in these people’s heads? What is in their hearts? If they were to have political power in Venezuela, what would they be capable of doing to the people?”.