Canada imposes new sanctions as Venezuelan President Maduro is sworn in despite being condemned by the entire world
Canada has imposed new sanctions on 14 Venezuelan officials as President Nicolás Maduro was sworn in on Friday to a third six-year term, extending his increasingly repressive rule until 2031.
This, despite protests and credible evidence that his opponent won the election.
The Venezuelan palace, where he was sworn in and delivered a fiery speech, was heavily guarded by police, military and intelligence officials. Crowds of people, many sporting pro-Maduro T-shirts, gathered in nearby streets and a nearby plaza.
Maduro accused the opposition of trying to turn his inauguration into a “world war,” and said the party’s failure to stop the inauguration was “a great victory for Venezuela.” He accused foreign powers of “attacking” Venezuela, especially the US government, and promised to guarantee “peace and sovereignty of the country.”
“Today, more than ever before, I feel the weight of sacrifice, the power I stand for, the power given to me by the constitution,” he said. “I was not made president by the United States government, or the governments that supported the war in Latin America.”
The opposition party collected tally sheets from more than 80 percent of the voting machines following the July 28 election, posted the statistics online and said they showed opposition candidate Edmundo González won twice as many votes as Maduro. The US-based Carter Center, which monitors the election at the invitation of the government, declared the figures published by the opposition to be legitimate.
Some election experts the government has allowed to see the votes say voting records posted online by the opposition appear to show all the real security features.
Canada, US, EU announce sanctions
On Friday, Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly announced new sanctions against Venezuelan officials. They targeted 14 current and former Venezuelan government officials, “who have carried out activities that have directly or indirectly supported human rights violations in Venezuela,” according to the news release.
These include the suppression of protests following elections.
“Maduro’s shameless actions show that democracy and the rule of law cannot be taken lightly. We will not tolerate the erosion of the democratic process or the suppression of citizens who want to express their rights,” Joly said in a press release.
“Canada stands, and will continue to stand up for the people of Venezuela and their desire to live in a peaceful and democratic society.”
Canada has now imposed sanctions on a total of 131 Venezuelans.
The European Union also imposed sanctions on 15 senior Venezuelan officials who participated in the country’s 2024 elections, including the president and vice president of the Supreme Court of Venezuela, the electoral body and others. The 27-nation organization said those officials have put the nation’s democracy at risk.
The US Treasury Department also imposed new sanctions on Venezuelan officials, including the president of a Venezuelan oil company, Maduro’s transport minister and a state-owned airline, among others.
Protests in the streets
On Thursday, as hundreds of anti-Maduro protesters took to the streets of the capital, Caracas, aides to opposition leader María Corina Machado said she was briefly detained by security forces and forced to record videos.
The popular former lawyer, who was barred by the government from running for office, came out of hiding for months to join a rally demanding that González be sworn in as Maduro’s successor.
Machado spoke at the meeting and then rode a motorcycle with a security convoy. Machado’s press team later announced on social media that the security forces “violently seized” his convoy. His assistants confirmed to the Associated Press that the opposition player has been arrested.
American and European leaders criticized the government for suppressing dissent and called for his release. US President-elect Donald Trump has expressed his support for Machado and González.
“These freedom fighters should not be harmed, and they MUST stay safe and alive!” Trump said on Truth Social.
Maduro’s supporters deny that Machado has been arrested, saying that opponents of the government are spreading fake news to create trouble in the world.
Global condemnation with consequences
The brouhaha before Maduro’s inauguration added to the list of allegations of electoral fraud and brutal repression to silence dissent. Election authorities loyal to the ruling party declared Maduro the winner hours after polls closed on July 28, but unlike previous presidential elections, they did not provide detailed vote tallies.
International criticism of the lack of transparency prompted Maduro to ask the country’s highest court – also filled with friends of his United Socialist Party of Venezuela – to investigate the election results. The court also confirmed Maduro’s victory without providing full evidence and encouraged the electoral council to release the vote tallies.
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But neither the council nor the ruling party produced evidence that Maduro had won, although the representatives of their voting centers also had the right to count the papers in all the voting machines.
The controversy over the results sparked international outrage and nationwide protests. The government responded forcefully, arresting more than 2,000 protesters and encouraging Venezuelans to report anyone they suspect of being an enemy of the ruling party. More than 20 people died during the violence and many protesters reported being tortured in custody.
Outside of Friday’s inauguration, Maduro’s supporters were jubilant. One of them was Maricarmen Ruiz, 18, who couldn’t hold back tears.
“I have no words to express my feelings, I’m happy,” he said, expressing relief that González “wasn’t put” in the position of president.
González’s brother has been kidnapped
It is not clear how many heads of state attended Maduro’s swearing-in, which was hosted by the ruling party’s National Assembly. Cameras showed Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega and Cuba’s Miguel Diaz-Canel, while Maduro greeted delegates from what he said were more than 120 countries.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a close friend of Maduro, said he would skip the event, citing the arrest this week of the longtime Venezuelan opposition member and human rights defender.
Maduro’s last inauguration, in 2019, was attended by Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and former Bolivian president Evo Morales. The 2018 election was deemed fraudulent after his government barred the main opposition parties from participating.
And it remains unclear whether González, who went into exile in Spain in September, will make good on his promise to return to Venezuela on Friday.
Government officials have repeatedly threatened González with arrest if he sets foot on Venezuelan soil. On Tuesday, González said his son-in-law Rafael Tudares was kidnapped in Caracas. González’s daughter, Mariana González de Tudares, suggested in a statement that the government was responsible for her husband’s disappearance.
“When did being associated with Edmundo González Urrutia become a crime?” he said.
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