CARACAS, Venezuela—On Saturday, Aug. 3, nearly a week after Venezuela’s contested presidential election, opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia called for a rally to celebrate his victory. Based on an audit of tally sheets from the digital voting machines used to cast ballots, Gonzalez had credibly claimed to have won 7 million votes, compared to 3 million for President Nicolas Maduro. For his part, Maduro declared victory with 52 percent of the vote on the night of the July 28 election, without showing any evidence backing up his claim then or since.
However, on Saturday, with thousands of opposition supporters gathered in the baking sun waiting for the opposition’s event to kick off, Gonzalez was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a woman emerged from the crowd and removed the hoodie that had concealed her identity until then: It was Maria Corina Machado, the opposition leader who had catalyzed popular support for Gonzalez as a replacement candidate after being barred from running herself. Upon revealing herself, Machado addressed the crowd from a small truck that served as a stage, while the audience repeatedly shouted “freedom.”
At the street corner across from where the truck was parked, a colorful mural commemorating 10 young men killed in that week’s protests served as a chilling reminder of the government’s violent repression. Machado rode off from the brief gathering on a motorcycle to an undisclosed location.