Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro arrests opposition figures and blocks social media site X
Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro is cracking down on the opposition after his disputed election victory. Opposition figures Américo De Grazia and Williams Davila have been arrested, the parties and their families said on Thursday night, and the social media site X has been blocked for the next 10 days.
In last month's elections, Maduro secured a third term in office with 52 per cent of the vote. But the opposition accuses him of fraud and insists its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, won. Several countries, including the US and some Latin American states, have backed this claim.
Crackdown on opposition
Maduro is now cracking down on the opposition by arresting its leaders. Davila was arrested during a rally in support of "political prisoners" in a square in the capital, Caracas, according to the opposition. According to his daughter, De Grazia is being held in the intelligence services' headquarters.
"We don't know what he's accused of, they don't have an arrest warrant for my father, we haven't received any sign of life, we don't know in what conditions he's being held," his daughter said on Instagram.
A criminal investigation has also been opened against opposition figures Gonzalez Urrutia and María Corina Machado, including charges of "usurpation of authority, incitement to rebellion and criminal conspiracy". They have been in hiding for more than a week, with Machado saying she fears for her life.
Social media boycott
Thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets after the results were announced. Their protest against Maduro's regime has resulted in 24 deaths, according to human rights organisations. The call for protests came mainly through social media.
In response, the social networking site X has been blocked in Venezuela for the next 10 days, Maduro announced on Thursday. He has claimed several times that social media sites are trying to stage a "cyber-fascist criminal coup" and also called for a WhatsApp boycott.
© PHOTO FEDERICO PARRA / AFP
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