Attempt to destabilize Venezuela fails

The far-right opposition’s attempt to destabilize Venezuela and stage a coup has failed, with the situation in the country getting back to normal, said Willian Rodriguez, a member of Venezuela’s National Assembly (parliament).

“The right-wing forces’ attempt to destabilize Caracas and other cities and to carry out a coup d’etat in Venezuela has failed,” Rodriguez said, adding that the right-wing opposition “has plotted and orchestrated a major political, psychological and social sabotage operation aimed at declaring illegal the results of the July 28 presidential election, which Incumbent President Nicolas Maduro won, and to disrupt political stability in Venezuela.”

Rodriguez pointed out that “the opposition’s plans were a fiasco.” He said that “the situation in Caracas normalized yesterday and today.” The lawmaker was convinced that “tensions will subside in the country this week and all the coup plotters against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela will be brought to account.”

In addition, the lawmaker said that “the National Electoral Council will release the final bulletin very soon and that all results [of the election] will be published.”

On July 28, Venezuela held a presidential election. According to the National Electoral Council’s bulletin issued after counting 80% of ballots, Maduro was supported by 5,150,092 voters, or 51.2%. His rival, Edmundo Gonzalez of the far-right parties, scored 4,445,978 votes, or 44.2%. Opposition leader Corina Machado did not recognize the election results.

On July 29, downtown Caracas was gripped with protests and riots. The protesters blamed the government for falsifying the outcome of the presidential election. Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab said that almost 750 people were detained for taking part in the riots. According to the authorities, more than 20 service members, who were engaged to ensure public order, were injured and one military officer was killed.