Caracas [Venezuela], July 31: At least six people have died in the protests against President Nicolas Maduro's controversial re-election in Venezuela, the non-governmental organization Foro Penal wrote on X on Tuesday.
Foro Penal added that two young people were among the victims and 132 demonstrators have been detained.
More protests are expected a day after the National Electoral Council officially declared Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, the winner of Sunday's presidential election.
The opposition accuses the government of electoral fraud and claims victory for its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. The US, the European Union, the Organization of American States (OAS) and several Latin American countries have expressed doubts about the official election result.
Nationwide, protests following the controversial election that handed another term to authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro led to at times violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces.
Television footage showed police using tear gas and occasionally striking people. Shots were also fired at demonstrators who were marching to the presidential palace in the capital Caracas, the newspaper El Nacional reported and video clips showed.
The shooters could be so-called Colectivos (Collectives), pro-government paramilitary groups that enforce the government's agenda through violence. The video shows police not intervening to prevent the attack on the demonstrators.
The opposition called for a large demonstration against the government for Tuesday. The government camp also plans to bring its supporters to the streets. The National Electoral Council officially declared Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, the winner of the presidential election with 51.2 percent of the votes in Sunday's election, while opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez received 44.2 percent.
The opposition has refused to recognize the official result and has made allegations of election fraud.
Opposition leader María Corina Machado said to media representatives on Monday that the government opponents had access to 73 percent of the result lists, which indicated an insurmountable lead for the challenger. She said Gonzalez had won in all states and received over 6.2 million votes, while Maduro received only 2.7 million.
Source: Qatar Tribune
