The tension generated in Venezuela after the July elections has left the country in a new political crisis that this Friday intensified with the inauguration of Nicolás Maduro as president, an act that began about two hours earlier than planned. The leader of Chavismo has put on the presidential sash again and has been sworn in for the 2025-2031 period in the National Assembly (AN), controlled by the ruling party, while the opposition claims the victory of Edmundo González Urrutia at the polls.
The ceremony included the signing of the swearing-in certificate by Maduro and the rest of the representatives of the State Powers. Next, the president went up to the speakers’ gallery after hugging the president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega. For his part, González Urrutia, who announced his intention to return to Venezuela to also assume the presidency, He has had to stay in the Dominican Republic due to the impossibility of entering his country due to the air, sea and land restrictions imposed by Maduro.
Maduro has been sworn in by the president of the AN, Jorge Rodríguez, in a solemn ceremony that was attended by key figures of Chavismo such as the attorney general, Tarek William Saab; the president of the Supreme Court of Justice, Caryslia Rodríguez; the president of the National Electoral Council, Elvis Amoroso; and the Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino López. Some of its international allies have also attendedlike the president of Nicaragua and that of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel; as well as the former Honduran president Manuel Zelaya or representatives of the Chinese leader, Xi Jingping; and the Russian Vladimir Putin.
During the oath, taken on an original copy of the 1999 Constitution signed by the late Hugo Chávez, Maduro declared that His third term will be a “period of peace”, even though it begins surrounded by controversy. “I swear by the historic, noble and brave people of Venezuela and before this Constitution, that I will enforce all its mandates. I inaugurate the new period of peace, prosperity and the new democracy,” he proclaimed before the president of Parliament, Jorge Rodríguez .
In his speech, Maduro has accused the opposition of being at the service of foreign interests, pointing to the US and what he has called the “United States of Europe.” Likewise, he has attacked South American leaders opposed to his regime, such as Argentine President Javier Milei, whom he has described as a “social sadistic Zionist Nazi” who leads the “extreme right” hand in hand with the “North American empire.” “He believes that he can impose a president on Venezuela, no one in this world imposes a president on Venezuela,” he warned.
“I am not the president, nor will I ever be, of oligarchies, surnames, supremacisms or imperialisms,” Maduro highlighted, while accusing the opposition of carrying out “a conspiracy never seen before.” “If we are here it is because the Venezuelan State as a whole, exercising its right to self-defense against a global, public, evident, communicational conspiracy of the power of the United States and its satellites and slaves in Latin America and the world, turned the presidential election of Venezuela in a world election,” he said.
The opposition denounces a “coup d’état”
While Maduro gave his speech from the speakers’ gallery, the majority opposition in Venezuela, grouped in the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), denounced on social networks the consummation of a “coup d’état.” “With the usurpation of power by Nicolás Maduro of the Presidency of the Republic, supported by brute force and ignoring the popular sovereignty forcefully expressed on July 28, a coup d’état has been carried out against the rights of the Venezuelan people“.
The opposition coalition has insisted that González Urrutia is the legitimate president of Venezuela and has announced a new stage of “permanent and active democratic resistance”: “We must make a permanent and active behavior of democratic resistance felt.until the national Constitution and especially popular sovereignty are respected.” In addition, he has urged the international community to reject Maduro’s mandate and support efforts to achieve a democratic transition in the country.
In this sense, The European Union has claimed that Maduro lacks the legitimacy of a democratically elected president. “The Venezuelan authorities lost a key opportunity to respect the will of the people and ensure a transparent democratic transition with guarantees for all. Nicolás Maduro, therefore, lacks the legitimacy of a democratically elected president,” said the head of European diplomacy. , Kaja Kallas.
The US has also confirmed that it does not recognize Maduro as president of Venezuela and has demanded that González Urrutia, whom it considers the winner of the elections, be sworn in as the new president. “President-elect Edmundo González Urrutia must be sworn in and the democratic transition must begin. We are willing to support the return to democracy in Venezuela,” claimed the United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.
“Today, Nicolás Maduro held an illegitimate presidential inauguration ceremony in Venezuela in a desperate attempt to seize power,” said the head of US diplomacy. “Maduro clearly lost the 2024 presidential elections and has no right to claim the presidency,” he added.
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