Venezuelan Parliament Speaker Jorge Rodriguez announced Monday that, in the wake of post-election unrest, the national assembly would vote on a series of laws including regulating social media and NGOs.
Each country has its own model for dealing with the issue of social networks that infect society with anti-values, commented Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a heavy user of social networks, but who suspended X for ten days on Friday and who regularly attacks Whatsapp or TikTok.
X’s suspension and campaign against social media are an escalation in the censorship system […] The government identifies social networks as the mechanism through which people can obtain information. This is part of this dark chapter that we are living, said Giulio Cellini, director of the political consultancy Logconsultancy, on Friday.
A heavy toll
The announcement comes as Venezuela’s attorney general reported Monday a new death toll of 25 and 192 injured in unrest following the disputed declaration of victory by incumbent Nicolas Maduro in the July 28 presidential election.
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro at the Supreme Court of Justice in Caracas (File photo)
Photo: Reuters / Leonardo Fernandez Viloria
Twenty-five people were killed, including two members of the Bolivarian National Guard, in just 48 hours […] between July 29 and 30, announced prosecutor Tarek William Saab at a meeting of the Defense and State Council, also mentioning 192 people injured by firearms, bladed weapons, various blunt objects and incendiary bombs.
The prosecutor particularly accused the opposition, assuring that all these deaths can be attributed to the criminal groups manipulated by the “comanditos”, the names given to the groups of opposition activists.
Human rights NGOs reported 24 deaths, while Mr Maduro announced the arrest of 2,200 people.
Maduro demands an iron fist
President Maduro also called on Monday for all state powers to act with an iron fist to curb the unrest.
As Head of State, Head of Government and President of Venezuela, I demand from all powers of the State greater speed, greater efficiency and an iron fist in the face of crime, violence and hate crimes, an iron fist and severe justice.
A quote from Nicolas Maduro, Venezuelan President
The leader blamed the violence on opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was unable to run in the election because she was declared ineligible, and opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, accusing them of an attempted coup and of wanting to create a civil war.
Where are the intellectual authors of this violence? […] Where is Mr. Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia? Why is he fleeing? Why doesn’t he show his face? Where is the greatest fascist, Mrs. Machado, who orders killing, who orders assassination? the president raged.
This call for firmness from President Maduro comes as the opposition, which claims victory, has called for demonstrations on Saturday.
The spontaneous demonstrations that broke out the day after the presidential election were repressed by the police, who did not intervene on August 3 during an opposition rally in Caracas. Since then, the opposition has not called for demonstrations.
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Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado attended a protest on August 3.
Photo: Reuters / Leonardo Fernandez Viloria
Ms. Machado and Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia are living in hiding and have not been seen in public for about ten days.
Washington, for its part, clarified: We have not made any offers of amnesty to Maduro or to others since this election.
Many observers and even some members of the opposition believe that a democratic transition requires an amnesty for Venezuela’s top leaders.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) ratified Mr. Maduro’s victory on August 2 with 52% of the vote, without publishing the exact count and the minutes of the polling stations, claiming to have been the victim of computer hacking.
According to the opposition, which published the minutes obtained through its scrutineers – whose legitimacy is rejected by Mr Maduro – Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won the election with 67% of the vote.
The opposition and many observers believe that the hacking claimed by the CNE is an invention of the government to avoid publishing electoral documents.
