Venezuela's far-right opposition is doubling down on its refusal to accept defeat in the country's amid simmering unrest and violence in the streets of Caracas, sparking warnings of another coup attempt in a nation that has long faced interference from the United States and other Western powers.
Led by MarÃa Corina Machado, who was disqualified from running in the July 28 election, Venezuela's opposition claimed that its candidate — ex-diplomat Edmundo González — defeated President Nicolás Maduro with more than 70% of the vote, contradicting the official results announced by the Consejo Nacional Electoral (CNE).
Machado, who once Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to back an effort to topple Maduro's elected government, pointed Venezuelans to a the opposition is using to assemble its own vote counts.
"So far, she hasn't presented any evidence [of fraud]," Caracas-based reporter AndreÃna Chávez Alava said in an appearance on Democracy Now! on July 30. "In past elections they have also said they have evidence that they won and they never actually showed any proof."
According to CNE, Maduro won with just over 51% of the vote in a contest that one group of independent election observers as "fair and transparent". Experts, , and the leaders of other Latin American nations — including the left-wing presidents of and — have called on CNE to release detailed election results to dispel any doubts about the contest's legitimacy.
Right-wing leaders in Latin America, meanwhile, have backed the Venezuelan opposition's unsubstantiated claims of election theft. Javier Milei, Argentina's far-right president, on social media that "Argentina is not going to recognise another fraud, and hopes that the armed forces this time will defend democracy and the popular will" — openly hinting at the possibility of a military coup.
Milei's comments, as well as those of other right-wing political leaders in the region, Venezuela to announce the withdrawal of diplomatic personnel from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic and Uruguay.
The United States, which has a long history of meddling in Venezuelan politics and has to oust Maduro's government, has also questioned the CNE tally and floated the possibility of , which have had on Venezuela's economy.
"We have serious concerns that this result does not reflect the will and the votes of the Venezuelan people," Vedant Patel, a spokesperson for the US State Department, told reporters during a on July 29.
Addressing Venezuelans the same day, Maduro what he described as an attempted "coup against Venezuela" by "the world's extreme right". Maduro also denounced those who of the late former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
"All acts of criminal violence will be judged in accordance with Venezuelan laws and the full and absolute weight of the law will be applied to them," said Maduro.
Venezuela Analysis that on early Monday afternoon, "a group of protesters attempted to advance to Miraflores Presidential Palace through the central Urdaneta Avenue before being stopped by a police cordon."
Later in the day, the outlet continued, a "group of masked activists clashed with the National Guard in El Silencio, close to another access to the presidential palace".
Political scientist Jodi Dean wrote in the wake of the elections that "from here in Caracas, I can attest that US doubts" about their legitimacy "are unwarranted."
"Venezuela has one of the most advanced voting systems in the world," Dean wrote in a published by Progressive International on July 30: "U.S. doubts about Venezuela's elections appear less as concerns that the people's voice will not be heard, than that it will.
"Neoliberalism is crumbling and a battle is underway for what will replace it: war and oppression or peace and solidarity?" Dean continued. "The refusal of the opposition to accept the results of the election, and, indeed, their willingness to double down by claiming to have won over 70% of the vote and incite violence across the country demonstrates that the battle won't be an easy one."
[Originally published in . Edited for style and clarity.]