Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been sworn in for a third 6-year term, staying in power despite a 6-month dispute over the results of the July presidential election and international calls for him to step down.
“I swear that this new presidential term will be a state of peace,” Maduro said in front of the speaker of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, to which Rodriguez took the initiative: “you were inaugurated president according to the Constitution”.
Maduro said his inauguration was a ” great victory for democracy,” rejecting opposition accusations of electoral fraud. In his inauguration speech, he said: “Say what you want (…) But this constitutional inauguration took place in spite of everything, and it is a great victory for Venezuelan democracy”.
Venezuela’s Election Commission and the Supreme Court declared Maduro, who has been president since 2013, the winner of the elections in July, although detailed results confirming his victory have never been published. Maduro’s 12-year rule has been marked by a deep economic and social crisis, according to the “Reuters” news agency.
The Venezuelan opposition said the results of the vote counting at the ballot box level showed a landslide victory for its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, who was recognized by a group of governments, including the United States, as president-elect. International election observers said the election was not fair.
In the months following the election, Gonzalez fled to Spain in September, his ally Maria Corina Machado went into hiding in Venezuela, and prominent opposition figures and protesters were arrested.
Gonzalez, who has been on a tour of the Americas this week, said he would return to Venezuela to assume the post of President, but gave no details.
The government, which accused the opposition of orchestrating fascist plots against it, said that Gonzalez would be arrested if he returned, and offered a reward of 100 thousand dollars to those who provide information leading to his arrest.
For years, the opposition, non-governmental organizations and international bodies, including the United Nations, have been denouncing the growing repression against opposition political parties, activists and independent media in Venezuela.
At the same time, the government has repeatedly accused the opposition of conspiring with foreign governments and bodies, including the US Central Intelligence Agency, to commit acts of sabotage and terrorism.
