Venezuela’s authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, has been accused of a shameless and fraudulent power-grab after swearing himself in for a third term, despite domestic outrage and a chorus of international condemnation at his alleged theft of last year’s election.
“This is a great victory for Venezuelan democracy,” the 62-year-old autocrat boasted during a sparsely attended oath-taking ceremony in Caracas that was boycotted by the leaders of democratic nations.
As Maduro extended his 12-year rule, the US announced a $65m bounty for his arrest and those of two close allies on international drug-trafficking charges and rejected Maduro’s claim to the presidency.
Maduro, who has led Venezuela in an increasingly repressive direction since being democratically elected in 2013, has failed to produce any proof that he won the 28 July vote. His opponents have published detailed evidence that their candidate, Edmundo González, was the actual winner thanks to widespread public anger at Venezuela’s economic collapse.
But on Friday morning, it was Maduro – who has refused to relinquish power and been backed by military and security chiefs – who had Venezuela’s yellow, blue and red presidential sash draped over his shoulders at the national assembly.
Among those who skipped the event in protest were the leftwing presidents of Brazil and Colombia, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Gustavo Petro, longstanding regional allies who have refused to recognize Maduro’s claim to victory.
The authoritarian presidents of Cuba and Nicaragua, Miguel Díaz-Canel and Daniel Ortega, occupied front row seats, and the authoritarian leaders of China and Russia, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, also sent envoys.
In a rambling but defiant 90-minute speech, Maduro claimed he was spearheading “a democratizing revolution” in Venezuela and cast himself as the fearless anti-imperialist leader of an “eminently democratic project” inspired by Latin America’s independence heroes.
He lambasted his political foes as violent and “putrid” fascists and oligarchs, calling Argentina’s rightwing president, Javier Milei, a far-right “Zionist Nazi” and “social sadist”.
“I wasn’t made president by the US government or the pro-imperialist governments of the Latin American right,” Maduro declared. “I come from the people. I am of the people – and my power emanates from history and from the people!”
Maduro’s swearing-in prompted a fresh outburst of international condemnation, including from members of the political left, which the Venezuelan strongman purports to represent.
“I am someone from the left and from the political left I tell you: Nicolás Maduro’s government is a dictatorship,” said Chile’s progressive president, Gabriel Boric.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said: “The Venezuelan people and world know that Nicolás Maduro clearly lost the 2024 presidential election and has no right to claim the presidency today. We stand ready to support a return to democracy in Venezuela.”
The UK’s foreign secretary, the Labour party MP David Lammy, said: “Nicolás Maduro’s claim to power is fraudulent. The outcome of July’s elections was neither free nor fair and his regime does not represent the will of the Venezuelan people.”
Lammy, as fresh sanctions were announced in coordination with the EU, targeting 15 individuals linked to Maduro’s regime, added: “The UK will not stand by as Maduro continues to oppress, undermine democracy, and commit appalling human rights violations.”
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said: ”Maduro lacks all democratic legitimacy.”
Mélanie Joly, the minister of foreign affairs for Canada, which on Thursday formally recognized González as Venezuela’s president-elect, said: “Maduro’s shameless actions demonstrate that democracy and the rule of law cannot be taken for granted. We will not tolerate the erosion of the democratic process or the repression of citizens seeking to express their rights.”
The US announced it was increasing its reward for information leading to the arrest of Maduro and his interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, for alleged drug trafficking offences, to $25m, and created a reward of $15m for information leading to the capture of Maduro’s longstanding defense minister, Vladimir Padrino López.
Brazil’s president Lula shunned the inauguration with close ally, the senator, Jaques Wagner, telling local media: “The relationship with Venezuela has soured”.
González, a retired diplomat who only entered politics last year, had vowed to travel back to Venezuela from exile for an inauguration of his own. But on Friday afternoon his most important backer, the opposition leader María Corina Machado, announced that they had decided he would no longer come.
“Edmundo will come to Venezuela to be sworn in as Venezuela’s president at the right time when the conditions are suitable,” Machado said in a video message recorded at a secret location. She blamed the decision on Maduro’s decision to activate Venezuela’s air-defense systems as a result of what she called his “delusional paranoia”.
Earlier in the day, Gen Domingo Hernández Lárez, a top army commander, posted a video on social media of a Russian surface-to-air missile system being deployed in what was seen as a threat to shoot González’s plane down if he attempted to fly back to Venezuela.
Machado insisted, however, that Maduro’s days were numbered and that a democratic transition was “very close”.
“Have no doubt, this is over,” she claimed, calling on Venezuelans to protest. “Maduro has consolidated his coup and the violation of our constitution. It is time to do whatever is necessary to restore it.”
