Opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro took to the streets in an attempt to revive protests against him as he tightens his grip on power following last month’s disputed election.
The demonstrations in the capital, Caracas, on Wednesday come exactly a month after the fraught July 28 vote in which Mr Maduro was declared the winner despite strong evidence that opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez won by a nearly 2-to-1 margin.
The result drew international condemnation that the vote lacked transparency.
And in weeks of on-again, off-again demonstrations, the opposition’s rallying cry has been constant but so far ineffective.
Opponents have demanded that election officials publish results from each polling station that they say would expose Mr Maduro’s attempts to steal the election.
“Voting records kill sentence,” is how the opposition billed the latest protest, referring to the thousands of tally sheets it collected and posted online that contradict a recent sentence written by the loyalist Supreme Court certifying Mr Maduro’s purported victory.
Wednesday’s protest was smaller than previous demonstrations. Tiny groups of Venezuelans also gathered in other Latin America capitals.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who along with Mr Gonzalez went into hiding following the election, re-emerged to attend Wednesday’s rally, waving a Venezuelan flag and hugging small children from the back of a truck as supporters shouted “Freedom!”.
Banned from running against Mr Maduro, the conservative politician crisscrossed the nation for weeks to help elect Mr Gonzalez, a previously unknown former diplomat.
Acknowledging the steep challenge of forcing Mr Maduro from power, Ms Machado said the movement she leads will be strategic about calling for additional demonstrations.
But she said the international pressure on Mr Maduro is unlikely to cease any time soon and pointed out that not a single Western democracy has recognised what she called Mr Maduro’s “fraud”.
“Those who say the passage of time favours Maduro are wrong,” Ms Machado said to throngs of supporters who filled an avenue in Caracas. “Every day he’s more isolated, more toxic.”
Not to be outdone, Mr Maduro’s supporters also planned to hold rallies on Wednesday, vowing to “defend” his victory against what they claim is an attempt to sow unrest throughout the South American country.
Amid the ongoing crisis, Mr Maduro has leaned heavily on security forces to preserve his power.
On Tuesday, he appointed a hard-line ruling party boss as interior minister, with oversight of police forces.
Diosdado Cabello has vowed to show no mercy against government opponents.
Mr Cabello’s appointment stoked fears that a crackdown that has already led to more than 2,000 arrests — of journalists, politicians and students — is likely to intensify.
The wave of arrests featured prominently at a special meeting on Wednesday of the Organisation of American States in Washington to discuss a report on human rights violations by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
“The commission condemns unequivocally practices of institutional violence in the context of the electoral process in Venezuela,” Roberta Clarke, a lawyer from Barbados and member of the commission, said at the meeting.
“Democracy and the rule of law must be restored.”
The commission called on Venezuelan authorities to cease all actions that “generate terror” in the population — including arbitrary detentions and the use of violence by non-state actors loyal to Mr Maduro — and respect the popular will of Venezuelans for democratic change.
