Maduro regime announces criminal investigation into opposition leader María Corina Machado

Nicolás Maduro’s attorney general, Tarek William Saab, said this Monday that the Venezuelan Public Ministry launched an investigation against opposition leader María Corina Machado for alleged cyberattacks on the dictatorship’s National Electoral Council (CNE) from North Macedonia.

“According to the classified information we received, the main person involved in this attack would be citizen Lester Toledo, an infamous fugitive from justice, who is abroad,” said Saab.

“Along with him, the fugitive from Venezuelan justice Leopoldo López and María Corina Machado appear to be involved. "The prosecutors are collecting evidence of these actions that attempted to adulterate the results," he added.

The prosecutor took the opportunity to talk about the primary elections held on Oct. 22, in which Machado was the winner.

“Let us remember that last October a sector of the opposition held supposed primaries, which were carried out without the participation of the electoral body, without verification mechanisms, without the possibility of audit and without any record of participation,” he said.

#HCHInternacionales | El fiscal general de la dictadura venezolana, Tarek William Saab, anuncia el inicio de una investigación criminal contra Maria Corina Machado. La acusan junto a otras personas de “coordinar un ataque al CNE desde Macedonia del Norte”.

Vídeo cortesía. pic.twitter.com/MToB4Khic7

— HCH Televisión Digital (@HCHTelevDigital) July 29, 2024

Latin American leaders and the U.S. have repudiated the CNE announcement in Venezuela, which gave dictator Nicolás Maduro as the winner with 51.2% of the votes, compared to 44% for the opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia.

Those numbers contrasted sharply with other post-election reports from about 40% of the country’s polling stations that the opposition had a 7 out of 10 vote lead over the dictator. By Monday evening, with 73.2% of the voting tallies in, reports revealed by Reuters suggested that Maduro had only won 2.75 million votes compared to 6.27 million for Gonzalez.

Numerous governments in the region, through their leaders or spokespersons, have expressed their concern about the results and have questioned the transparency and legitimacy of the electoral process in Venezuela.

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Uruguay have all challenged the regime’s declared victory, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. has “serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people.”