The man widely believed to be the real victor of last year’s presidential election in Venezuela has accused Nicolás Maduro of staging a coup and “crowning himself dictator” after the South American autocrat claimed another six years in power.
Maduro, a former union leader who has governed since 2013, in increasingly authoritarian fashion, was sworn in for a third term on Friday, despite claims that he stole the election from the actual winner, the retired diplomat Edmundo González.
The governments of Argentina, Canada, the US and Peru are among those to have recognised González as Venezuela’s rightful president-elect, while the EU, UK, Brazil and Colombia have refused to recognise Maduro’s claim to victory.
González, who was forced into exile during a wave of government repression that followed the 28 July vote, criticised Maduro’s power grab in a video message to supporters on Friday night.
“Maduro has violated the constitution and the sovereign will of the Venezuelans … He has executed a coup d’etat and crowned himself dictator. The people aren’t with him and no government considered democratic is with him – only the dictators of Cuba, [the Democratic Republic of the] Congo and Nicaragua,” said González, a 75-year-old retired diplomat.
González has published detailed voting tallies that offer convincing evidence he won last year’s election by a wide margin, while Maduro has offered no proof of his supposed victory. But Venezuela’s military and security forces have stood by their increasingly isolated commander-in-chief despite opposition calls for them to switch sides.
At a televised ceremony on Friday attended by thousands of “anti-imperialist combatants”, the leaders of the armed forces and police declared their fealty to Maduro. “We are immortal. We are invincible. We are indestructible,” Maduro proclaimed.
In his address, González said Maduro’s “cowardly and unscrupulous” regime, which is widely blamed for crashing Venezuela’s economy and causing one of the biggest migration crises in Latin America’s modern history, was entering its dying days.
“Soon, very soon, no matter what they do, we will return to Venezuela and put an end to this tragedy … I promise that we will not fail you,” González said, claiming the opposition was “coordinating with all of the indispensable actors to ensure the swift return of freedom”.
González, who visited the Dominican Republic and Panama on the eve of Maduro’s inauguration, did not disclose his location but said he was “very close to Venezuela” and would return home “at the right time”.
“Freedom always defeats tyranny,” he said.
