Following the accusations of fraud in the July 28 election and the international outcry calling for a transparent recount, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro shows no sign of complying or putting an end to political persecution. If anything, he’s doubling down: on Monday, the judiciary ordered an arrest warrant against Edmundo González Urrutia, the former presidential candidate and one of the main opposition leaders.
In other (not entirely) unrelated news, Maduro also announced the country will be having an early Christmas. That’s right: in 2024, Santa Claus will apparently be hitting Venezuelan homes on October 1.
The Venezuela Public Prosecutors Office issued an arrest warrant against González, who claims to have beaten Maduro in the presidential elections. González is being accused of “serious crimes” such as conspiracy, sabotage, and manipulating public documents.
The warrant comes after González failed to attend three summonses from the Public Prosecutors Office to explain why his coalition published electoral tallies in a website.
Prosecutor Luis Ernesto Dueñez requested González be arrested. Two hours later, a judge issued the formal warrant. The document was published in the Public Prosecutors Office social media accounts.
Argentina, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay issued a joint statement on Monday condemning the warrant against González. The release called it “another way of trying to silence” the former presidential candidate and “ignoring the Venezuelan people’s wishes.” The seven Latin American countries said González is a victim of political persecution” and “dictatorship-like practices.”
González ran as presidential candidate in replacement of main opposition leader, María Corina Machado, who was barred from participating in the election. After the vote, Machado announced that her team had set up a parallel electronic vote counting system that showed that the true winner was González, not Maduro.
With 83.5% of the total tallies counted, the opposition website shows González got 67% of the vote while Maduro got 30%. Machado and González have published the tallies for public consultation on their website.
Maduro has not complied with international requests to show electoral tallies and insists that he won the election with 51.95% of the vote. His government has also said the tallies released by the opposition are fake.
The electoral process in Venezuela has been highly contested by the international community over a lack of transparency. Several countries have rejected Maduro’s win and called for the voting tallies to be made public. Argentina has not only done this but has also called González “the true winner” of the election.
González has previously stated he would not be attending the summonses on the grounds that he would not be subjected to impartial legal proceedings. In Venezuela, a person can be summoned three times before being considered a flight risk. After that, the judiciary can issue an arrest warrant.
An early Christmas
Hours after the warrant was issued, Maduro announced he would be moving Christmas forward to October 1.
“It’s September and it already smells like Christmas,” Maduro said during a government event. “That’s why, to pay homage and thank you, I am decreeing that Christmas will be moved forward to October 1. Christmas is here with peace, happiness and security,” he said.
Maduro has been changing the date of Christmas celebrations in Venezuela since 2019, amid the harsh social and political crisis affecting the country.