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)
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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."
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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.



China to US: 'Market Has Spoken' after Tariffs Spur Selloff

US and Chinese flags and a label with the word "34% Tariffs" are seen in this illustration taken, April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
US and Chinese flags and a label with the word "34% Tariffs" are seen in this illustration taken, April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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China to US: 'Market Has Spoken' after Tariffs Spur Selloff

US and Chinese flags and a label with the word "34% Tariffs" are seen in this illustration taken, April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
US and Chinese flags and a label with the word "34% Tariffs" are seen in this illustration taken, April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

China said on Saturday "the market has spoken" in rejecting US President Donald Trump's tariffs, and called on Washington for "equal-footed consultation" after global markets plunged in reaction to the trade levies that drew Chinese retaliation.

Several Chinese commerce associations in industries from healthcare and textiles to electronics also issued statements on Saturday calling for unity in exploring alternative markets and saying the tariffs would worsen inflation in the United States.

Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan told public broadcaster RTHK, however, Hong Kong would not impose separate countermeasures, citing the need for the city to remain "free and open".

"The market has spoken," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said in a post on Facebook on Saturday. He also posted a picture capturing Friday's falls on US markets, Reuters reported.

Trump introduced additional 34% tariffs on Chinese goods as part of steep levies imposed on most US trade partners, bringing the total duties on China this year to 54%.

Trump also closed a trade loophole that had allowed low-value packages from China to enter the US duty-free.

This prompted retaliation from China on Friday, including extra levies of 34% on all US goods and export curbs on some rare earths, escalating the trade war between the world's two largest economies.

Global stock markets plummeted following China's retaliation and Trump's comments on Friday that he would not change course, extending sharp losses that followed Trump's initial tariff announcement earlier in the week and marking the biggest losses since the pandemic. For the week, the S&P 500 was down 9%.

"Now is the time for the US to stop doing the wrong things and resolve the differences with trading partners through equal-footed consultation," Guo wrote in English.

China's chamber of commerce, representing traders in food products, called on "China's food and agricultural products import and export industry to unite and strengthen cooperation to jointly explore domestic and foreign markets".

Hong Kong's Chan said it strongly opposes Trump's actions and would persist in being "free and open".

"Allowing a free flow of capital and acting as a free port are our advantages, and this will not change," Chan told public broadcaster RTHK.

"The rules-based multilateral trading system is our core," he said.