The Venezuelan opposition organized new protests on the occasion of one month since the controversial presidential elections, which strengthened President Nicolás Maduro's grip on power, BTA reported.
The demonstration in the capital Caracas took place exactly one month after the July 28 vote. Election authorities then declared Maduro the winner, but the opposition did not recognize the results and said there was irrefutable evidence that its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, won the election by a margin of 2 to 1. Meanwhile, amid the heightened situation, the international community also reacted and accused the Venezuelan authorities of lack of transparency when announcing the results of the vote.
The charge against the government is that it has not published the full data from the election records, which, according to the opposition and its international supporters, opens the door to reasonable doubts about the impressive election victory of Maduro, who has ruled Venezuela since 2013.
The opposition has been calling for protests against Maduro for weeks, but its actions have so far proved to be ineffective.
On Tuesday, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who is also the main face of the protests, told Reuters she continued to believe that peaceful street demonstrations and international pressure would eventually lead to the president's fall from power.
Later that day, opposition organizations reported that authorities had issued new arrest warrants for their activists, including a lawyer from Machado's movement.
"The cry of the Venezuelans echoes around the world," Machado told the participants of yesterday's rally in Caracas and urged them not to weaken the pressure on the rulers.
At the same time, she told them to "beware because the regime has unleashed brutal cruelty".
Shortly after the rally, the opposition announced that Biaggio Pillieri, leader of one of the parties in the opposition coalition, who stood next to Machado during the protest, had been arrested.
Pillieri, who is the chairman of the "Convergence" party, was last known to be in front of the "Elikoide" prison. in Caracas, wrote the opposition in "X" and accompanied his post with a screenshot from his phone. The message adds that he was with his son Jesus.
In addition to the opposition demonstration, a counter-protest by supporters of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela was planned for later in the capital again.