Following the detention of more than a thousand people in protests against the results of the elections in Venezuela, opposition leader María Corina Machado called for mobilization on Thursday. Her message comes hours after Nicolás Maduro stated that she and candidate Edmundo González should be "behind bars." The reelected president in the controversial elections has escalated his rhetoric as demands for transparency intensified. "We have more than 1,200 criminals captured," he said, referring to the repression of opposition protests.
Earlier today, Brian Nichols, the U.S. representative at the OAS summit, stated that there are "irrefutable evidence" of the opposition's victory. However, the organization has not achieved unanimity in demanding from Maduro the records with the election results in Venezuela, something the Chavista leader has promised but not yet fulfilled.
Musk versus Maduro
Nicolás Maduro against Elon Musk, Elon Musk against Nicolás Maduro. From afar, the billionaire and the Venezuelan president have been criticizing each other, but with the political crisis in Venezuela, following the disputed elections on Sunday, the exchanges have intensified. The magnate, "ultracapitalist," a supporter of Donald Trump... Musk, owner of companies like SpaceX, Tesla, and the social network X, is everything that Maduro claims to detest, and for several days now, he has been frequently mentioned in his speeches.
Labeling him as an "archenemy," Maduro accuses Musk of orchestrating "attacks against Venezuela" and even being behind the alleged "cyberattack" that the National Electoral Council (CNE), aligned with the government, claims to have suffered, proclaiming Maduro as the winner without detailing the votes. Even in a press conference on Wednesday with foreign correspondents, he challenged him to a fight. "Elon Musk, let's have a (boxing match). But come here, to the (Poliedro) arena, you and me. If I beat you, Elon Musk, I accept your trip to Mars, but you go with me."
He had already issued the same challenge right after the election: Do you want a fight, Elon Musk? I'm ready, I'm the son of (Simón) Bolívar and (Hugo) Chávez, I'm not afraid of you," stated the socialist leader, who is heading towards a third consecutive term that would add up to 18 years in power.
Musk responded "I accept" in a message on X. In another, he even said that, if he won, Maduro should "resign as dictator of Venezuela" and that, if instead the president emerged victorious, he would give him "a free trip to Mars" from those he plans to undertake in the future with his aerospace company SpaceX. Amid this dispute, Maduro announced on Tuesday the creation of "a special commission to evaluate, with Russian and Chinese advice," the security system and, in particular, the attack that, according to his government, damaged the CNE's communication system.