Venezuela detains 1,200 involved in violent riots
Venezuelan law enforcement has detained at least 1,200 “criminals” involved in the nationwide riots and violence triggered by President Nicolas Maduro’s win in the elections on July 28.
“We have detained more than 1,200 criminals. They were trained for some time in Texas, Colombia, Peru, Chile. They were trained so that they would come and attack and burn. They tried to burn this mobile hospital, but you and the locals saved it. Is this a protest or a political struggle? Burn hospitals?” Maduro said, speaking to members of the National Guard in Caracas.
Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez accused the West-backed opposition of attempting a coup d’etat and igniting the riots following Maduro’s re-election.
Padrino declared that the country’s violent state depicted “expressions of hatred and irrationality” that are part of a “preconceived plan” by US-backed political parties, emphasizing the opposition is attempting a coup with the support of “North American imperialism and its external and internal allies.”
The demonstrations erupted after presidential results revealed the victory of Maduro and the defeat of runner-up Edmundo Gonzalez resulting in protesters claiming the opposition candidate was the rightful winner while denouncing alleged vote fraud. The demonstrators destroyed property, including official buildings, hundreds of electoral centers, and offices of the National Electoral Council (CNE).
On the ongoing attacks and riots in Venezuela, Foreign Minister Ivan Gil commented on the issue, stressing that the rioters’ assaults included “burning state centers, beating people for supporting Chávez, destroying buses, torching workers’ vehicles, and shooting at innocent people.”
Gil labeled the attackers as “the most extreme enemies of democracy globally, describing them as fascists who will not be allowed to return.”
