Venezuela political crisis deepens as protesters talk of threats

Residents in a chaos-striken nation are living in fear as chilling black X marks are starting to appear on their homes.

Opponents of Venezuela’s authoritarian president claim they are living in fear after sinister X marks were painted on their doors as the country’s political crisis deepens.

President Nicolas Maduro has refused to relinquish power after a disputed national election in July, which the South American nation’s electoral body claimed he won without providing a detailed breakdown of results.

However, world leaders and analysts say it is clear the election was “stolen” by the incumbent president, and opposition leaders have called on the police and military to “stand on the side of the people”.

President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro is clinging to power after a disputed election. Picture: Jesus Vargas/Getty Images

Since the election, the country has been plunged into chaos with 25 killed, dozens injured and thousands arrested amid protests.

In the capital of Caracas, residents who have protested against Mr Maduro’s claimed victory say they are being intimidated by paramilitary loyalists of the regime.

Images released by CNN show black X marks painted on and next to front doors in the 23 de Eneri district.

One man, “Pablo”, told the US broadcaster the marks appeared a dat after residents stood outside their doors banging pots and calling for Mr Maduro to resign.

“There are some fifty homes in my street, and thirty-two have been marked,” he said.

“The following days, they would ride around the street saying this mark is for cowards and that they would come back with guns if anyone protested.”

The sinister black X marks appearing in Caracas. Picture: CNN

Residents say the black marks were spray painted by a paramilitary unit. Picture: CNN

The National Electoral Council declared Mr Maduro the victor of last month’s election with 52 per cent of the vote, but that has been disputed after figures were released by the opposition.

A website they created puts Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia at 67 per cent of the vote, with Maduro at just 30 per cent, in results purportedly based on polling booth data.

An analysis by the Associated Pressfound Mr Gonzalez Urrutia had gained almost 500,000 more votes than the NEC claimed Mr Maduro won with.

Both Mr Gonzalez Urrutia and defacto opposition leader Maria Corina Machado are in hiding but released a statement on August 6 saying they had “irrefutable proof of victory”.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado is in hiding. Picture: Juan Barreto/AFP

Venezuela’s top prosecutor Tarek William Saab announced later that day the duo were subject to a criminal investigation, claiming they “falsely accounted a winner of the presidential election”.

There has been widespread international pressure to resolve the situation, with some foreign leaders calling for a new election to be held.

The White House on Thursday appeared to walk back an earlier call by President Joe Biden suggesting that he backed new elections.

Asked earlier by a reporter if he supported the idea of fresh vote, the US leader replied: “I do.”

A spokesperson later said Mr Biden was speaking to the “absurdity” of Mr Maduro’s claim of election victory.

“The president was speaking to the absurdity of Maduro and his representatives not coming clean about the July 28 elections,” they said.

There have been street demonstrations against the Maduro regime. Picture: Yuri Cortez/AFP

The spokesperson added that it was “abundantly clear” the opposition had won the election.

Meanwhile, the presidents of Brazil and Colombia have called for new elections in Venezuela after international condemnation of last month’s vote.

The two South American leaders, who spoke on the phone on Wednesday to discuss a way forward from Venezuela’s post-election crisis, independently urged Mr Maduro to consider a new election.

Ms Machado said holding a new election would show “a lack of respect” for the peoples’ will already expressed in the July 28 vote.

Since coming to power in 2013, Mr Maduro has overseen an economic collapse of the once-wealthy petro state due to economic mismanagement and sanctions even as he tightened control over the military, courts and other state institutions.

According to the United Nations, more than seven million Venezuelans have fled the country of 30 million as GDP has plunged 80 per cent in a decade.

Mr Maduro’s last election in 2018 was also rejected as a sham by dozens of countries.

— with AFP