Over 2,200 protesters arrested in Venezuela

Nicolas Maduro pointed out that the defeated presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez and radical opposition leader Maria Corina Machado were personally responsible for the events unfolding in Venezuela

 More than 2,200 people have been arrested for participating in riots and causing violence during protests that followed the announcement of the results of the July 28 presidential election, President Nicolas Maduro said.

“Some 2,229 terrorists have already been arrested, all the evidence is there. On Saturday, the arrestees will be sent to Tocoron and Tocuyito [prisons],” the Venezuelan president said. According to him, those arrested “attacked the country’s citizens in the streets, setting fire to hospitals, schools, universities,” as well as police stations and town halls.

Maduro pointed out that the defeated presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez and radical opposition leader Maria Corina Machado were personally responsible for the events unfolding in Venezuela. “You, Mr. Gonzalez, are responsible for everything that is happening in Venezuela: for this heinous violence, for [the actions of] criminals, for those injured and dead, for all the destruction,” he pointed out. “Gonzalez and Machado are personally responsible for all of this. Justice should be served in Venezuela, because we can’t allow our people to be victims of attacks,” Maduro stressed.

On July 28, elections of the head of state were held in Venezuela. According to the ballot of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, with almost 97% of the protocols proceeded, Nicolas Maduro was supported by 51.95% of the vote. Maduro’s main rival, far-right candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, was favored by 43.18% of the electorate. Machado said on election day that Gonzalez’s team would not accept his defeat. The next day, protests erupted in the centre of Caracas.