At least seven dead in Maduro’s violent response to protests in Venezuela

The authoritarian socialist threatened to respond with violence, and his defense minister assured him of the “absolute loyalty” of the armed forces. On Tuesday morning, masked men in black forced opposition leader Freddy Superlano and two members of his team into a vehicle in Caracas and drove them away.

González said the protesters’ “indignation” was “justified.”

“To the security forces and to our armed forces,” he said in a video message posted on X, “we insist that you respect the will of the people” as expressed in the election and “end the repression of peaceful protests.”

“You know what happened on Sunday,” he said. “The truth is the way to peace.”

On Monday, crowds marched to the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, blocking streets, banging pots and pans and demanding the end of the socialist state that Hugo Chávez founded a quarter of a century ago.

Across the country, protesters burned Maduro billboards and destroyed Chávez statues.

Police responded with tear gas and some gunfire. At least 132 people were arrested and six killed, the human rights group Foro Penal reported.

Forty-eight soldiers and police officers were injured and one soldier was killed, said Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López. He described the incidents as “violence promoted by the extreme right in Venezuela” during a “media coup” supported by North American imperialism.

The seemingly spontaneous demonstrations clearly stand out from the numerous waves of civil unrest that have targeted the Venezuelan government over the years. Many of these demonstrations have been led by people from working-class neighborhoods that have historically been strongholds of support for Chávez, Maduro and their movement known as “Chavismo.”

“The whole mountain is collapsing. Nobody wants it anymore,” said Deivis Limis, 40, who said he walked for more than four hours from his Caucaguita neighborhood along a highway to join the crowds in the capital.

“We are not protesting, we are asking for our votes. He has suffered a clear defeat. He must go,” said Limis. “We cannot continue to suffer under this yoke that he has imposed on us.”

María Corina Machado, the most prominent and popular opposition leader, called on Venezuelans to join her in front of the UN mission on Tuesday morning to “defend González’s victory.”

Maduro ordered security forces to crush the protests in a “maximum mobilization.”

“We have seen this film before,” he said in a televised address. “We know how to deal with these situations and how to defeat violence.”

The International Criminal Court is investigating Maduro. This is the first investigation of its kind in Latin America. He is accused of his security forces being involved in the torture and extrajudicial killing of dissidents during the street uprisings against him in 2017.