Venezuela latest: Nicolás Maduro takes office as global backlash and sanctions mount

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was sworn in for a third six-year term Friday despite international condemnation of his recent reelection as illegitimate, as his administration grows increasingly brazen in cracking down on opponents.

The country's legislative palace, where he was sworn in, was heavily guarded by police, military and intelligence officers. Crowds of people, many sporting pro-Maduro T-shirts, gathered in adjacent streets and a nearby plaza.

While Maduro's supporters were rallying, his opponents were expected to head to the streets after aides to a key opposition leader said that she was briefly detained Thursday following an anti-government demonstration in the capital, Caracas.

Here's the latest:

As Maduro's reaffirms control of military, opposition leader González is nowhere to be seen

As Maduro gave a speech to the Venezuelan military forces largely credited with keeping him in power, the country's opposition leader, Edmundo González, was nowhere to be seen Friday in the Dominican Republic, where he arrived on Wednesday. He held a brief press conference on Thursday before disappearing from the public eye.

While his wife was spotted at the hotel on Friday, González had not appeared.

On Friday morning, former Mexican President Felipe Calderón, who had traveled to the Dominican Republic in support of Edmundo González along with other Latin American dignitaries, announced they would hold a press conference about Venezuela’s opposition leader.

But as of Friday afternoon, no press conference had been held yet.

Earlier on Friday, Maduro made fun of González, saying in a mocking tone: “I'm waiting for him to arrive, I'm nervous.”

Biden administration extends temporary protections for 600,000 Venezuelans

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it is extending the temporary legal status to about 600,000 Venezuelans who fled the country for another 18 months. It cited “the extraordinary conditions that prevent eligible Venezuelan nationals from safely returning.”

The announcement came just minutes after Maduro was sworn in to serve a third six-year term and marks the Biden administration’s latest in support of Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, which faces an uncertain future under U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who tried to sharply curtail its use during his first term as president.

Britain and Canada slap sanctions against Venezuelan officials

The U.K. imposed sanctions on 15 senior top Venezuelan officials, including senior officials with the electoral service and the commander of the armed forces, and called Maduro’s claim to the presidency illegitimate. The sanctions include a travel ban and a freezing of assets.

“Nicolás Maduro’s claim to power is fraudulent,” Foreign Secretary David Lammy said. “Today’s sanctions send a clear message. The U.K. will not stand by as Maduro continues to oppress, undermine democracy, and commit appalling human rights violations.”

Canada also said it has imposed sanctions on 14 current and former senior officials that the government said “have engaged in activities that have directly or indirectly supported human rights violations in Venezuela."

Inauguration marred by lack of regional support

Few regional leaders – other than those facing their own human rights criticisms – traveled to Venezuela to attend Maduro's inauguration.

While countries like Peru said they recognized opposition leader Edmundo González, not Maduro, as Venezuela's rightful leader, other regional allies like Colombian leftist leader Gustavo Petro and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum were notably absent.

Venezuelan Opposition: ‘A coup d’état has been consummated against the rights of the people’

A coalition of Venezuelan opposition parties condemned Maduro’s inauguration, calling it a “coup d’état” against the democratic will of the people. It said in a statement that Maduro landed his third term through “brute force and by ignoring” the popular vote.

It maintained that opposition leader Edmundo González was the rightful president who won the July presidential election.

“We begin today a new stage in the struggle for the freedom of Venezuela," the coalition wrote. “We must make them feel our permanent and active democratic resistance, until the national constitution and especially the popular will is respected.”

US doles out new sanctions, boosts reward for information leading to capture of Maduro and top officials

As Maduro rails on foreign critics, the U.S. Treasury Department slapped a new round of sanctions on Venezuelan officials.

The U.S. sanctions were placed on the president of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Maduro’s transportation minister and state-owned airline, and high-level military and police officials which the Treasury said had “roles in carrying out Maduro’s repression and human rights abuses against democratic actors.”

The U.S. State Department also boosted its offer for information leading to the arrest of Maduro and his interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, to $25 million each, and placed a new bounty of $15 million for information about Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino.

In 2020, the department had offered a reward of up to $15 million for information on Maduro. It also imposed new travel restrictions on an undisclosed number of Maduro-aligned government officials who the U.S. believes undermined the electoral process and were complicit in repression.

Maduro claims compliance with constitution, criticizes US

In a fiery speech following his swearing in, Maduro claimed that his government has “complied with the constitution” despite little evidence that he won the election and international claims of fraud.

Maduro accused external powers of “attacking” Venezuela, taking digs at the U.S. government and foreign critics, and he promised to guarantee “peace and national sovereignty.”

“Today more than ever I feel the weight of commitment, the power that I represent, the power that the constitution grants me,” he said. “I have not been made president by the government of the United States, nor by the pro-imperialist governments of Latin America.”

Maduro accused the opposition of trying to turn the inauguration into a “world war,” but said they failed.

In the crowd celebrating Maduro’s inauguration was Presidents Miguel Díaz-Canel of Cuba and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua – countries also facing international sanctions for democratic crackdowns. Top Russian and Chinese officials were also in attendance.

Opposition leader isn't in Venezuela despite promises

Opposition leader Edmundo González remains in the Dominican Republic, and has announced a news conference at the hotel where he's staying. This comes despite promises by the former presidential candidate to arrive in Venezuela and be inaugurated as president.

González had never offered details of how he intended to enter the country and take power, especially given Maduro's firm control of the military and government.

González was on a regional tour of Latin America in an effort to rally support before the inauguration, with his last stop being in the Dominican Republic.

Maduro is sworn in inside the legislative palace

Standing before officials, Maduro was sworn in at Venezuela's legislative palace.

“I swear by Bolivar, by Sucre, by Urdaneta, by Manuela Saez, by the eternal memory of our eternal commander Hugo Chavez ... I swear by history, I swear by my life,” Maduro said.

As he did, followers erupted into cheers.

Maduro arrives to heavily guarded palace before inauguration

Authorities announced the arrival of Maduro and other leaders to Venezuela's legislative palace, where he is set to be sworn in shortly.

The building is being heavily guarded by police, military and intelligence officers. In adjacent streets and a nearby plaza, people, many sporting pro-Maduro T-shirts, are already gathering. Maduro walked by crowds as some outside the palace roared “Vamos Nico!", “or Let's go, Nico!”

“Today we've come to support our constitutional President Nicolás Maduro with tons of joy and excitement,” said supporter Sabrina Sucre, who traveled from the Venezuelan coast with a fellow fisherwoman to witness the inauguration.

EU imposes sanctions on 15 Venezuelan officials

The European Union imposed sanctions on 15 top Venezuelan officials who had a role in the South American country’s 2024 election.

Among those sanctioned are the president and vice president of Venezuela’s Supreme Court, electoral agency and others, which the 27-nation bloc said have put the nation’s democracy at risk.

Flights suspended, border closed between Venezuela and Colombia

Venezuelan authorities have announced the suspension of commercial flights and the closure of borders between Venezuela and Colombia, a country with which it shares a 2,200-kilometer (1,367-mile) border.

The measure, which came into effect at 5 a.m. Friday local time and will last 72 hours, came after former opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González promised to return to the country to be sworn in as president.

González, who returned to Latin America last weekend from his self-exile in Madrid, is recognized as president-elect by the United States, several countries in the region and international organizations such as the Organization of American States. He hasn't offered details of how he intends to enter the country to appear at the inauguration and strip Maduro of power.

Costa Rica's former President Laura Chinchilla — part of the delegation of former leaders accompanying González — said Thursday he was still intending to enter Venezuela on Friday, without providing details. She spoke at the hotel in the Dominican Republic where they were staying.

Maduro has weathered condemnation before

Maduro is facing more international rebuke than at any time in his nearly 12 years in power. The self-declared socialist has clung to power despite credible evidence that he lost last year’s election by a landslide. That sparked criticism by the United States and others that the vote was stolen.

But this isn’t the first time Maduro's claim to power has been questioned. Dozens of countries led by the U.S. condemned his 2018 re-election as a sham and recognized Juan Guaidó, the then-head of the National Assembly, as Venezuela’s legitimate leader.

The opposition leader even led a parallel government for a few years, bolstered by the Donald Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign of punishing economic sanctions, and until the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic, repeatedly commandeered massive anti-Maduro protests. The anti-Maduro sentiment stemmed from the political, social and economic crisis that pushed millions into poverty, hunger, poor health, crime, desperation and migration.

Maduro, who took power in 2013 following Hugo Chávez’s death from cancer, has seen the entirety of his time in office marked by the crisis. Without “El Comandante” in charge, the economy entered a death spiral — shrinking 71% from 2012 to 2020, with inflation topping 130,000%.

Ahead of last year's election, voters across the country repeatedly said they or their loved ones would emigrate if Maduro remained in power. Under his watch, more than 7.7 million Venezuelans have already left their homeland in search of better living conditions.

Kidnapping and arrests ahead of Maduro's swearing-in

This week alone, masked gunmen arrested a former presidential candidate, a prominent free speech activist and the son-in-law of self-exiled opposition leader González.

González, who handily won last year's election according to tally sheets activists collected from electronic voting machines, said his son-in-law was kidnapped Tuesday in Caracas by hooded men wearing black while en route to drop off his children at school.

On Thursday, the eve of Maduro's inauguration, aides to opposition leader María Corina Machado said she was detained, followed moments later by official denials, in a confusing episode that capped a day of protests. She was freed after she was coerced into recording various videos, according to her aides.

Sharing cells in the country’s packed prisons with the hundreds of government opponents arrested since the election are as many as 10 Americans. Most have not had access to a lawyer and only limited contact with family members, who worry they could be subject to torture, as past American detainees have alleged.

None has been declared wrongfully detained by the State Department, a designation that would give their cases more attention. Because the U.S. has no diplomatic presence in Venezuela, their families can face a long process pushing for their release. The Americans’ detentions add another complication to the many Venezuela challenges that await President-elect Trump when he returns to the White House on Jan. 20.

Evidence of election fraud

Electoral authorities loyal to the ruling party declared Maduro the winner hours after polls closed on July 28, but unlike in previous presidential elections, they did not provide detailed vote counts.

At the same time, the main opposition coalition collected tally sheets from 85% of electronic voting machines, posted them online and said they showed that González thrashed Maduro by a more than two-to-one margin. Experts from the Atlanta-based Carter Center, invited by Maduro’s government to observe the election, have said the tally sheets published by the opposition are legitimate.

Global condemnation over the lack of transparency prompted Maduro to ask the country’s high court — also filled with allies of his United Socialist Party of Venezuela — to audit the election results. The court reaffirmed Maduro’s victory without providing thorough evidence and encouraged the electoral council to release the vote counts. But neither the council nor the ruling party produced any evidence.

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