Venezuela opposition reports armed robbery at Caracas headquarters

Venezuelan opposition party Vente Venezuela, led by María Corina Machado, reported a “robbery” at its headquarters early Friday morning. Six armed men with their faces covered reportedly “subdued guards” to “take equipment and documents.”

The robbery reportedly occurred after hooded assailants penetrated the party’s security forces and vandalized the offices by breaking doors and spray painting the building with graffiti. The hooded assailants also took equipment and documents, the party reported on social media networks.

The social media posts, accompanied by two videos and a photograph, denounced the robbery, which it referred to as an "onslaught,” adding that it believed "some" of its members were in danger "for political reasons."

#URGENTE Atraco a las 3am con armas de fuego en “El Bejucal”, sede nacional del @ConVzlaComando y oficina de @MariaCorinaYA. 6 hombres encapuchados y sin identificación sometieron a vigilantes. Los amenazaron y procedieron a hacer pintas, romper puertas y llevarse equipos y… pic.twitter.com/9ey475uwRS

— Vente Venezuela (@VenteVenezuela) August 2, 2024

Machado, and the Vente Venezuela party, recently led a united coalesced campaign against Chavista President Nicolás Maduro. Maduro’s challenger, opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, has widely been recognized as the victor of the race while the regime controlled National Electoral Council. (CNE), said he came in second behind the dictator Nicolás Maduro.

According to the CNE’s figures, there was a difference of 704,114 votes between the two candidates, and more than two million ballots to still be counted.

For her part, Machado recently declared in a Wall Street Journal oped that she is currently in hiding because the Maduro regime has threatened to detain her on trumped up criminal charges, and the Venezuelan opposition leader said she fears for her life.

"I write this while in hiding, fearing for my life, my freedom and that of my compatriots from the dictatorship led by Nicolás Maduro," Machado wrote.

Venezuela's electoral body argued on election day that it had suffered a cyber-attack. Still, that purported attack did not prevent it from awarding Maduro an "irreversible victory" on Sunday night.

Since that moment, no more bulletins were issued, and the full and official sample of the vote results have remained pending.

As a result of the uncertainty, significant doubt among the Venezuelan population and international community has generated protests in several states of the country. Widespread protests arose across the country, and Maduro controlled security forces began to repress the demonstrations, resulting in more than 1,200 arrests who have been charged with "various crimes."

So far, 12 deaths have been officially reported, but the opposition claims that number is 16.