dpa
Buenos Aires
Venezuela’s public prosecutors have opened an investigation into opposition leader María Corina Machado and opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González amid the power struggle which followed the July 28 election, which was marred by serious fraud allegations.
Machado and González are accused of forming a criminal organization, conspiracy, usurpation of office and incitement to insurrection, the pro-government authority announced on Monday.
In view of the security forces’ crackdown on demonstrators, who took to the streets to protest what they believe to be a rigged election, González and Machado called on soldiers and police officers to take the side of the people and stop following the instructions of the incumbent government.
“We urge you to prevent the regime from unleashing its rampage against the people and to respect, and ensure that others respect, the results of of the July 28 elections,” they said in an open letter dated Monday.
They also said that authoritarian incumbent President Nicolás Maduro “carried out a coup d’état that contradicts the constitutional order and wants to make you his accomplices.” According to non-governmental organization Foro Penal at least 11 people died and hundreds were detained in the demonstrations so far.
Venezuela’s electoral authority declared Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, the winner of the poll. However, it has not yet published the itemized results of the individual voting districts.
The opposition is accusing the government of electoral fraud and is claiming victory for its candidate, González.
The US and half a dozen Latin American countries have recognized González as the winner. The European Union said it would not recognize the result of the presidential election in Venezuela without the full disclosure of the official voting record.
Meanwhile, Venezuela’s electoral authority says it has presented official election results to the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, days after it said President Maduro had secured a third term in a hotly contested vote overshadowed by fraud allegations.
The court, which is seen as loyal to Maduro’s authoritarian government, said late on Monday that it received the detailed election reports from the National Electoral Council (CNE).
It had previously given the CNE three days from Friday to hand over the documents, which reportedly include full results from individual voting districts and evidence of a cyberattack on the CNE, which the body’s president Elvis Amoroso called a “terrorist” incident that delayed the transmission of official data.
