Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during his swearing in for a third term in Caracas on January 10, 2025.
AFP
“I swear”: outgoing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, with the support of the army and an administration under orders, was sworn in on Friday for a third six-year term in a ceremony described as a “coup de State” by his rival Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who considers himself the elected president and called on the army to “disobey”.
The United States and the European Union, among others, condemned the inauguration, which was welcomed by Russia.
“I swear that this new presidential mandate will be one of peace, prosperity, equality and the new democracy,” said Nicolas Maduro, taking the oath in the National Assembly where his party has an absolute majority.
“A great victory for Venezuelan democracy”
Once the presidential scarf was placed from the left shoulder to the right side and the large “necklace of the key of the Ark”, which opens the sarcophagus of Simon Bolivar, around the neck, Nicolas Maduro insisted: “Do what you want, but this constitutional inauguration […] could not be prevented and it is a great victory for Venezuelan democracy.
Nicolas Maduro even joked about the presence of Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who had promised to take the oath in place of the outgoing president. Reacting to a noise disrupting the ceremony, Nicolas Maduro quipped: “Edmundo has arrived?”, before continuing: “As I await his arrival, I am a little nervous”.
From an undisclosed neighboring country, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia spoke in a video of a “coup d’état” believing that Nicolas Maduro had “crowned himself dictator”. The 75-year-old former ambassador called on the army to “disobey the illegal orders” of those in power. He explained that he had not been able to return to the country but promised to do so “soon, very soon”.
Few heads of state present
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said in a statement on social media that she had asked Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, exiled in Spain since September, not to try to return to the country, “the entire air defense system (having) been activated. “His (physical) integrity is essential for the definitive defeat of the regime,” she stressed.
Initially scheduled for noon, Nicolas Maduro’s inauguration ceremony was brought forward by an hour and a half and lasted two hours.
Nicolas Maduro passed between a hedge of soldiers in gala dress to enter the National Assembly where he shook hands for a long time with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, one of the rare heads of state present with the Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega.
“49 arrests for political purposes”
Once invested, Nicolas Maduro, accompanied by hundreds of bikers, left the National Assembly for the military camp of Fort Tiuna, and a televised ceremony of allegiance of the armed forces and the police: “We reaffirm loyalty and subordination to the citizen Nicolas Maduro,” said Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, one of the key figures in the repression of post-electoral unrest.
Alfredo Romero, the president of the NGO Foro Penal which documents political detentions, reported Friday that he had recorded since the start of the year “49 arrests for political purposes. And it continues.”
The UN secretary general called for the release of all those “arbitrarily detained”.
“No democratic legitimacy”
The United States denounced a “sham” and “an illegitimate presidential inauguration”, announcing new sanctions against Caracas jointly with Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union. They increased the reward to $25 million (22.9 million Swiss francs) for information leading to bringing the Venezuelan leader to justice.
Nicolas Maduro has “no democratic legitimacy”, reacted the head of European diplomacy Kaja Kallas. Russian President Vladimir Putin “congratulated” Nicolas Maduro, his faithful ally.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) proclaimed Nicolas Maduro the winner in July with 52% of the votes but without publishing the minutes, claiming to be the victim of computer hacking, a hypothesis considered unlikely by many observers.
The opposition, which published the minutes provided by its scrutineers, assures that its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia obtained more than 67% of the votes. The post-election unrest following the announcement of Maduro’s victory resulted in 28 deaths, 200 injuries and 2,400 arrests.
(afp)
