Zürcher Nachrichten - Venezuela on tenterhooks ahead of Maduro swearing-in

EUR -
AED 4.02547
AFN 78.958383
ALL 99.102869
AMD 431.181955
ANG 1.961978
AOA 1003.890567
ARS 1184.765046
AUD 1.813586
AWG 1.97271
AZN 1.867466
BAM 1.955265
BBD 2.22659
BDT 133.983319
BGN 1.957778
BHD 0.412787
BIF 3277.602688
BMD 1.09595
BND 1.474296
BOB 7.619914
BRL 6.405394
BSD 1.102698
BTN 94.079244
BWP 15.358795
BYN 3.608812
BYR 21480.619234
BZD 2.215094
CAD 1.559263
CDF 3148.664634
CHF 0.944431
CLF 0.02729
CLP 1047.223301
CNY 7.980215
CNH 7.994999
COP 4582.945323
CRC 557.847278
CUC 1.09595
CUP 29.042674
CVE 110.234821
CZK 25.256829
DJF 196.376238
DKK 7.461451
DOP 69.640934
DZD 146.03502
EGP 55.406831
ERN 16.439249
ETB 145.347308
FJD 2.537019
FKP 0.847795
GBP 0.850992
GEL 3.01429
GGP 0.847795
GHS 16.970527
GIP 0.847795
GMD 78.997119
GNF 9480.074229
GTQ 8.45127
GYD 228.536272
HKD 8.520633
HNL 28.038338
HRK 7.531044
HTG 143.530764
HUF 404.54591
IDR 18346.949665
ILS 4.100568
IMP 0.847795
INR 93.650132
IQD 1430.891791
IRR 46360.405806
ISK 144.204462
JEP 0.847795
JMD 172.42419
JOD 0.777072
JPY 161.061946
KES 141.527433
KGS 95.002298
KHR 4365.330633
KMF 489.529208
KPW 986.361205
KRW 1599.015607
KWD 0.337157
KYD 0.910826
KZT 556.162432
LAK 23685.841231
LBP 98372.711411
LKR 324.07413
LRD 218.985421
LSL 20.902803
LTL 3.236056
LVL 0.66293
LYD 5.289988
MAD 10.429326
MDL 19.551233
MGA 5069.578931
MKD 61.05679
MMK 2300.919896
MNT 3846.361639
MOP 8.775473
MRU 43.593447
MUR 49.000806
MVR 16.923331
MWK 1897.317993
MXN 22.386696
MYR 4.861215
MZN 70.003894
NAD 20.902803
NGN 1681.066767
NIO 40.290501
NOK 11.790932
NPR 149.910449
NZD 1.95777
OMR 0.421946
PAB 1.09595
PEN 4.037053
PGK 4.46999
PHP 62.764717
PKR 306.904853
PLN 4.245513
PYG 8757.469729
QAR 3.989667
RON 4.952931
RSD 116.586887
RUB 93.840941
RWF 1555.449869
SAR 4.110221
SBD 9.312612
SCR 15.97682
SDG 658.021292
SEK 10.947921
SGD 1.470849
SHP 0.861245
SLE 24.933268
SLL 22981.523891
SOS 624.324825
SRD 40.248477
STD 22683.951476
SVC 9.589967
SYP 14249.994157
SZL 20.902803
THB 37.792726
TJS 11.899889
TMT 3.833642
TND 3.357047
TOP 2.638671
TRY 41.641737
TTD 7.422798
TWD 36.332658
TZS 2923.758392
UAH 45.158896
UGX 4009.400205
USD 1.09595
UYU 46.167964
UZS 14171.813622
VES 77.086835
VND 28252.54745
VUV 134.896075
WST 3.078778
XAF 652.705611
XAG 0.037037
XAU 0.000361
XCD 2.966325
XDR 0.817067
XOF 652.705611
XPF 119.331742
YER 269.409315
ZAR 20.929909
ZMK 9864.868719
ZMW 30.636217
ZWL 352.89544
  • RBGPF

    69.0200

    69.02

    +100%

  • NGG

    -3.4600

    65.93

    -5.25%

  • RELX

    -3.2800

    48.16

    -6.81%

  • BTI

    -2.0600

    39.86

    -5.17%

  • SCS

    -0.0600

    10.68

    -0.56%

  • CMSC

    0.0300

    22.29

    +0.13%

  • GSK

    -2.4800

    36.53

    -6.79%

  • VOD

    -0.8700

    8.5

    -10.24%

  • AZN

    -5.4600

    68.46

    -7.98%

  • RYCEF

    -1.5500

    8.25

    -18.79%

  • RIO

    -3.7600

    54.67

    -6.88%

  • JRI

    -0.8600

    11.96

    -7.19%

  • BCC

    0.8100

    95.44

    +0.85%

  • BCE

    0.0500

    22.71

    +0.22%

  • BP

    -2.9600

    28.38

    -10.43%

  • CMSD

    0.1600

    22.83

    +0.7%

Venezuela on tenterhooks ahead of Maduro swearing-in
Venezuela on tenterhooks ahead of Maduro swearing-in / Photo: LUIS ROBAYO - AFP

Venezuela on tenterhooks ahead of Maduro swearing-in

Tensions mounted in Venezuela ahead of strongman Nicolas Maduro's swearing-in ceremony, with Caracas vowing Monday to arrest exiled opposition figure Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia -- widely recognized as the country's legitimate president-elect -- if he returns home.

Text size:

The threat came as Gonzalez Urrutia, on an international tour to ramp up pressure on Maduro to relinquish power, met US President Joe Biden in Washington.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was barred from facing Maduro at the polls and has been in hiding since the July 28 election which Gonzalez Urrutia claims to have won, said "all the regime has left is fear," in an interview with AFP.

She has called for mass protests on Thursday, on the eve of Maduro's inauguration for a third, six-year term at the helm of the Caribbean country.

In Washington, Gonzalez Urrutia told reporters after seeing Biden that he had thanked him for US support "in this struggle for the democratic recovery of Venezuela."

Asked whether Biden backed his objective of returning to Venezuela, Gonzalez Urrutia said after Monday's meeting: "He accompanies me in spirit."

But on Monday, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello vowed the opposition figure "will be arrested and tried if he sets foot in Venezuela."

The Venezuelan opposition has released a large set of polling station data it says proves their candidate overwhelmingly won a presidential vote which the loyalist electoral council awarded to Maduro without releasing a detailed vote breakdown.

The United States, G7 countries, and several Latin American nations have rejected Maduro's victory claim and recognized Gonzalez Urrutia as Venezuela's legitimate president-elect.

The 75-year-old former diplomat, who found exile in Spain after a warrant was issued for his arrest, has vowed to return home to take power on Friday, when Maduro is set to be sworn in.

In Washington, Biden "reiterated his support for Venezuela’s democratic aspirations and underscored the US commitment to continue to hold Maduro and his representatives accountable for their anti-democratic and repressive actions," a White House statement said.

It was not known if Gonzalez Urrutia also met Donald Trump, who succeeds Biden as president on January 20, or his choice for secretary of state, Marco Rubio -- a staunch Maduro opponent.

Gonzalez Urrutia said "our teams are in contact with the teams of President Trump."

- Call to 'overcome fear' -

Machado, speaking to AFP by telephone, said she would take to the streets herself in Venezuela on Thursday.

"If we all come out, millions, how can a few hundred or a few thousand armed people (prevail) against 30 million Venezuelans? In the end, the only way to be free is to overcome fear," she said.

The wildly popular Machado, 57, had won an opposition primary by a wide margin, but Gonzalez Urrutia stepped in to replace her at the last minute when institutions loyal to Maduro said she could not run.

Mass protests that broke out following Maduro's victory claim were met with a crackdown that left at least 28 people dead, some 200 hurt and more than 2,400 arrested.

The prosecutor's office said Monday that about 1,500 of those detained have since been freed.

Protests have largely petered out in a society browbeaten by economic hardship and, rights groups say, a campaign of political repression.

Caracas recently passed a law punishing support for sanctions against the Maduro regime with up to 30 years in prison.

- 'Loyalty, obedience' to Maduro -

On a foreign tour that took him to Argentina and Montevideo, Gonzalez Urrutia called Sunday for the Venezuelan military to recognize him as commander-in-chief.

But his appeal was "categorically" rejected Monday in a statement read on TV by Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, who reiterated the armed forces' "loyalty, obedience and subordination" to Maduro.

On Monday, Caracas cut diplomatic ties with Paraguay after Asuncion voiced support for Maduro's opposition rival. Asuncion, in response, expelled Venezuelan diplomatic personnel.

Caracas had already severed relations with several Latin American countries that have accused Maduro of a power grab.

More than seven million of once-wealthy Venezuela's 30 million citizens have emigrated since Maduro first came to power in 2013.

I.Widmer--NZN