CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Venezuela’s embattled Opposition on Monday vowed to overcome “fear” and thwart President Nicolas Maduro’s plans to be sworn in for another term, with defiant leaders renewing calls for mass protests and visiting the White House to rally international support.
Maduro, 62, has ruled the oil-rich nation for over a decade since the death of his larger-than-life mentor Hugo Chavez, retaining an iron grip on power with the help of police, paramilitaries, and the armed forces.
On Friday, Maduro is to be sworn in for a third six-year term, after swatting aside allegations he stole a July election from now-exiled Opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who claims to have won in a landslide.
Ex-diplomat Gonzalez Urrutia, 75, visited the White House early Monday, meeting outgoing US President Joe Biden in a last-gasp effort to pressure Maduro into ceding power.
The White House said Biden and Gonzalez Urrutia agreed that his “campaign victory should be honoured through a peaceful transfer back to democratic rule”.
There was also a warning from Washington that Biden would be “closely” following the regime’s response to protests planned on Thursday, the eve of Maduro’s investiture.
“Venezuelans should be allowed to express their political opinions peacefully without fear of reprisal from the military and police,” the White House said.
Caracas promptly labeled Biden’s support for the Opposition “grotesque”, as it severed diplomatic ties with Paraguay for expressing similar support for the Opposition.
With throngs of security forces now deployed across the Venezuelan capital Caracas — a clear warning to would-be protestors — there are growing fears that Thursday’s demonstrations could bring violent reprisals.
But Opposition figurehead Maria Corina Machado told AFP on Monday that Venezuelans must overcome their fear and go onto the streets to claim their freedom.
“All the regime has left is fear,” Machado told AFP in a telephone interview while still in hiding inside Venezuela.
The “whole world knows” that the rightful president-elect is Gonzalez Urrutia, she said.
“If we all come out, millions, how can a few hundred or a few thousand armed people [prevail] against 30 million Venezuelans?
“In the end, the only way to be free is to overcome fear.”
But it is unclear whether Venezuelans, wearied by decades of economic crisis and fearful of regime vengeance, can be persuaded again to demonstrate in large numbers.
More than 20 people were killed and nearly 200 wounded in rioting that followed Maduro’s claim of election victory last July.
Another 2,400 people were arrested in the crackdown, with authorities saying that about 1,500 had since been freed.
The Maduro Government has vowed to deal harshly with future protests, and threatened to jail Gonzalez Urrutia if he makes good on a promise to return to Venezuela this week.
Gonzalez Urrutia first met leaders in Argentina and Uruguay before continuing his international tour to Washington.