Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro argued today that opposition leaders should be put ‘behind bars’, accusing them of having ‘blood on their hands’ due to the deaths in the protests against the official election results.
"These people must be behind bars and justice must be served," Maduro stressed during a press conference with foreign correspondents at the presidential palace in Miraflores.
Maduro accused opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and her presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia of having "blood on their hands" following deadly protests.
"Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia, show your face, come out of hiding, don't be a coward, Ms. Machado (...) has blood on her hands," the head of state said.
"They are the evil of Venezuela (...) they will never come to power," he added.
Venezuela has been experiencing protests in several regions of the country since Monday against the results announced by the CNE, which officially proclaimed Nicolás Maduro as President on Monday for the 2025-2031 term.
According to official data from the National Electoral Council (CNE), Nicolás Maduro was re-elected for a third consecutive term with 51.2% of the vote, having obtained 5.15 million votes.
The main opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, obtained just under 4.5 million votes (44.2%), the CNE indicated.
The Venezuelan opposition, however, claims victory in the presidential elections, with 70% of the votes for González Urrutia, said opposition leader María Corina Machado, and the minutes of the vast majority of polling stations have been made public to support the claim.
The UN, the European Union (EU), the United States, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Argentina and Spain, among others, have asked the Venezuelan electoral authorities to publish the voting records to verify Maduro's alleged victory.
The Venezuelan President accused the Carter Centre, which observed the elections at the invitation of Venezuela, of having already written a report a month ago that considered the elections undemocratic.
"All those who came to Venezuela from the Carter Centre brought the report already written, we have had it for a month, we have the Carter Centre report already written", he accused.
Maduro also associated Héctor Guerrero Flores, known as 'Niño Guerrero', leader of the transnational criminal group 'Tren de Aragua', with the protests triggered against the election result.
"The famous 'Niño Guerrero' is in the south of Caracas directing the operations, at this moment he is traveling, he is trying to escape to Colombia", stressed the Venezuelan President, assuring that the United States sent Guerrero to Venezuela to promote the demonstrations.
The Chavista leader also highlighted that Guerrero, who escaped from a Venezuelan prison, re-entered the country with the complicity of former Colombian presidents Álvaro Uribe Vélez and Iván Duque, whom Maduro blamed for dozens of alleged plans to kill him and countless acts of sabotage against him.
