Venezuela Opposition Beset by Mounting Legal Challenges after Disputed Election

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro greets supporters next to First Lady Cilia Flores during a rally in Caracas on August 3, 2024. (Photo by Pedro Rances Mattey / AFP)
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro greets supporters next to First Lady Cilia Flores during a rally in Caracas on August 3, 2024. (Photo by Pedro Rances Mattey / AFP)
TT
20

Venezuela Opposition Beset by Mounting Legal Challenges after Disputed Election

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro greets supporters next to First Lady Cilia Flores during a rally in Caracas on August 3, 2024. (Photo by Pedro Rances Mattey / AFP)
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro greets supporters next to First Lady Cilia Flores during a rally in Caracas on August 3, 2024. (Photo by Pedro Rances Mattey / AFP)

Venezuela's legal system mounted more challenges against the country's political opposition on Wednesday, as the candidate the alliance says won the July 28 election was ruled in contempt of court and now faces imprisonment.
The head of Venezuela's Supreme Court ruled Edmundo Gonzalez, who says he beat President Nicolas Maduro in the vote, was in contempt of court after refusing to answer a summons to attend what it said was a certification of the results, Reuters said.
Gonzalez, a 74-year-old former diplomat, could face up to 30 days in jail for contempt, lawyers said. Numerous Venezuelan opposition leaders have faced arrest and imprisonment or fled into exile in recent years.
"If I go to the electoral chamber (of the Supreme Court) in these conditions I will be totally vulnerable due to powerlessness and violation of due process and I will put at risk not only my freedom but, more importantly, the will of the Venezuelan people as they expressed on July 28," Gonzalez said in a letter posted on X on Wednesday.
Venezuela's electoral authority - which the opposition accuses of being biased towards Maduro - declared Maduro the winner of the election early on July 29 with around 51% of the vote. But it has yet to produce the voting tallies.
The opposition, led by Maria Corina Machado and Gonzalez, says it has copies of the voting tallies that show it won the election with more than 7 million votes, compared to Maduro's 3.3 million votes. That result is broadly similar to that predicted by independent exit polls.
While Russia and China, among others, have congratulated the socialist Maduro on his win, many Western countries have expressed skepticism and asked the electoral authority to publish a full vote tally.
Chile's leftist President Gabriel Boric rejected Maduro's victory on Wednesday, saying he had "no doubt" Venezuela's government had committed fraud to hold on to power.
That prompted an angry rebuttal from Venezuelan Foreign Minister Ivan Gil, who added that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan had spoken to Maduro and that Istanbul had congratulated the Venezuelan people on the election.
In a post on X, the Turkish presidency said Türkiye "will continue to support the dialogue process in Venezuela."
WEBSITE TARGETED
In another legal challenge to the opposition, top prosecutor Tarek Saab said he would open a criminal investigation into the publishers of a website showing election tallies collected by the opposition which suggest Gonzalez won by a landslide.
"It was decided to launch a criminal investigation against those responsible for the publication and maintenance of the website," Saab said in a statement, citing forgery of public documents, computer crimes and conspiracy.
A United States official has said he believes it would be nearly impossible for the opposition to have falsified these tallies, which were rapidly uploaded online.
The disputed election led to a wave of anti-Maduro protests across Venezuela and advocacy groups have raised alarms over security forces rounding up suspected protesters. Authorities say police are targeting people accused of committing violent crimes during the demonstrations.
Late on Tuesday, Maria Oropeza, a coordinator for Machado's Vente Venezuela political movement, broadcast a raid on her home in Guanare, in Portuguesa state, live on Instagram.
The video appears to show security officers attempting to break down a metal grid at her home entrance and asking her to accompany them. Before the video cut to black, Oropeza could be heard asking to see a warrant.
Oropeza's current whereabouts are unknown.
Attorney General Saab has already launched a criminal probe against Machado and Gonzalez for inciting security forces to break the law, after they published a joint letter calling for police and military to stand with Venezuela's people.



Trump Says US, Iran Set for Direct Nuclear Talks; Tehran Says They Will Be Indirect 

US President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US, April 7, 2025. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US, April 7, 2025. (Reuters)
TT
20

Trump Says US, Iran Set for Direct Nuclear Talks; Tehran Says They Will Be Indirect 

US President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US, April 7, 2025. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US, April 7, 2025. (Reuters)

President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement on Monday that the United States and Iran were poised to begin direct talks on Tehran's nuclear program, but Iran's foreign minister said the discussions in Oman would be indirect.

In a further sign of the difficult path to any deal between the two geopolitical foes, Trump issued a stark warning that if the talks were unsuccessful, "Iran is going to be in great danger."

Iran had pushed back against Trump's demands in recent weeks that it directly negotiate over its nuclear program or be bombed, and it appeared to be sticking to that position on Monday.

"We're having direct talks with Iran, and they've started. It'll go on Saturday. We have a very big meeting, and we'll see what can happen," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"And I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable," Trump said. He added that Saturday's talks with Iran would be at a very high level, without elaborating. He declined to say where the talks would take place but held out the possibility that a deal could be reached.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi posted on X that indirect high-level talks would be held in Oman, adding, "It is as much an opportunity as it is a test. The ball is in America's court."

On Tuesday, Iran's state media said the talks would be led by Araqchi and US Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff, with the intermediation of Oman's foreign minister, Badr al-Busaidi.

The US and Iran held indirect talks during former President Joe Biden's term but they made little if any progress. The last known direct negotiations between the two governments were under then-President Barack Obama, who spearheaded the 2015 international nuclear deal that Trump later abandoned.

Warnings by Trump of military action against Iran had jangled already tense nerves across the Middle East after open warfare in Gaza and Lebanon, military strikes on Yemen, a change of leadership in Syria and Israeli-Iranian exchanges of fire.

Trump, who has beefed up the US military presence in the region since taking office in January, has said he would prefer a deal over Iran's nuclear program to armed confrontation and on March 7 said he had written to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to suggest talks.

Iranian officials said at the time that Tehran would not be bullied into negotiations.

"Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and if the talks aren't successful I actually think it will be a very bad day for Iran," Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday.

Direct talks would not occur without the explicit approval of Khamenei, who in February said negotiations with the US were "not smart, wise, or honorable."

IRAN FAVORS INDIRECT NEGOTIATIONS

Hours before Trump's announcement, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Iran was awaiting a US response to Tehran's proposal for indirect negotiations. He said Tehran believed it was making a generous, responsible and honorable offer.

After Trump spoke, a senior Iranian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters: "The talks will not be direct ... It will be with Oman's mediation." Oman, which maintains good relations with both the US and Iran, has been a longtime channel for messages between the rival states.

Iran's Nournews, affiliated with the country's top security body, described Trump's statement about a planned direct meeting as part of a "psychological operation aimed at influencing domestic and international public opinion."

A second Iranian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said over the weekend there was possibly a window of around two months to reach a deal, citing worries that Iran's longtime foe Israel might launch its own attack if talks took longer.

Netanyahu, who has shown little support for US negotiations with Iran, said if diplomacy could prevent Tehran from ever getting nuclear weapons "in a full way, the way it was done in Libya, I think that would be a good thing."

During his 2017-2021 term, Trump withdrew the US from the 2015 deal between Iran and world powers designed to curb Iran's sensitive nuclear work in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump also reimposed sweeping US sanctions.

Since then, Iran has far surpassed that deal's limits on uranium enrichment.

Western powers accuse Iran of having a clandestine agenda to develop nuclear weapons capability by enriching uranium to a high level of fissile purity, above what they say is justifiable for a civilian atomic energy program.

Tehran says its nuclear program is wholly for civilian energy purposes.

The White House National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for details.

The shift comes at a precarious time for Tehran's regional "Axis of Resistance" which it has established at great cost over decades to oppose Israel and US influence. The axis has been severely weakened since the Palestinian group Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, tipped the Middle East into conflict.

Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon have been hammered by Israel since the Gaza war began while the Houthi group in Yemen has been targeted by US airstrikes since last month. Israel severely damaged Iran's air defenses last year.

The fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, another key Iranian ally, has further weakened Tehran's influence.