World leaders express concern over thousands arrested in Venezuela after disputed election

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Concern emerged around the world Sunday over the rising number of arrests in Venezuela following last weekend’s controversial election.

Pope Francis said Venezuela was “experiencing a critical situation” in his traditional Sunday address at the Vatican, adding: “I appeal to all parties to seek the truth and avoid any type of violence.”

The comments came hours after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced Saturday that the government had arrested 2,000 opponents. At a rally in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, Maduro promised to arrest more and send them to prison.

READ MORE: Masked gunmen ransack Venezuelan opposition leader’s headquarters as post-election tensions rise

Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the Biden administration is concerned the arrests could spark broader unrest.

“We are concerned about the prospect of instability if detentions continue,” Finer said.

In a statement, leaders of several European countries, including France, Spain, Germany and Italy, said “the rights of all Venezuelans, especially political leaders, should be respected during this process. We strongly condemn any arrests or threats against them.”

Authorities declared President Nicolás Maduro the winner of last Sunday’s election but have not yet produced voting results that prove his victory. The opposition says it has result sheets that show it won.

An Associated Press analysis of voting records released by the opposition coalition on Friday shows that its candidate, Edmundo González, won far more votes than the government claimed, casting serious doubt on Maduro’s official victory claim.

Both González, a former diplomat, and opposition leader María Corina Machado — who was barred by the government from running — went into hiding, saying they feared arrest or killing. Maduro and his cadres threatened to lock them both up.

The government arrested hundreds of opposition supporters who took to the streets in the days after the disputed election.

Machado defied threats and spoke at a large opposition rally in Caracas on Saturday but was later driven away on a motorbike.

“After six days of brutal repression, they thought they could silence us, intimidate us or paralyze us,” Machado told the rally. “The presence of each and every one of you here today represents the best of Venezuela.”

Hours later, Maduro again threatened to arrest Gonzalez for failing to appear at a summoned meeting of the electoral council. The council, like most parts of Venezuela’s government, is completely controlled by Maduro.

“There are serious legal consequences for failing to respect the Constitution, the courts and the law,” Maduro said of González.

Maduro also announced that he would continue to severely punish his opponents, adding that 2,000 of them have already been arrested.

“This time there will be no pardon, this time there will be Tocorón,” he said, referring to the infamous prison.

On Friday, masked attackers ransacked the opposition’s headquarters, taking documents and vandalizing the premises.

In his long, rambling speech, Maduro made threats but also called for reconciliation and peace, saying “there is room for everyone in Venezuela” and calling the country a “blessed land of opportunity.”

Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves and once boasted Latin America’s most advanced economy, but after Maduro took power in 2013, the country entered a free-fall characterized by 130,000-person hyperinflation and widespread shortages. More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have fled the country since 2014, the largest exodus in Latin America’s recent history.

U.S. oil sanctions have only deepened misery, and the Biden administration — which had been easing those restrictions — is now likely to tighten them again unless Maduro agrees to some form of transformation.

On Friday evening, Venezuela’s highest court, the Supreme Court, ordered the Maduro-controlled National Electoral Council to release district-level vote sheets within three days. Many governments, including Maduro’s close regional allies, have called on Venezuelan electoral authorities to release district-level results, as they did after previous elections.

The AP processed nearly 24,000 images of ballot papers, showing results from 79 percent of voting machines.

Gonzalez received 6.89 million votes, nearly half a million more than the government claims Maduro won, according to the tallies. The tabulations also show that Maduro received 3.13 million votes from the published ballots.

By comparison, the National Electoral Council said Friday that, based on 96.87 percent of the ballots that were returned, Maduro had won 6.4 million votes and Gonzalez 5.3 million. National Electoral Council President Elvis Amoroso attributed the delay in reporting complete results to attacks on the “technological infrastructure.”

Brazil, Colombia and Mexico have launched a series of diplomatic efforts to persuade Maduro to allow an impartial audit of the vote. On Thursday, the three governments issued a joint statement calling on Venezuelan electoral authorities to “act swiftly and publicly disclose” detailed voting data.