Venezuela Launches Criminal Probe Into Opposition Leaders

Facts

• Venezuela's Attorney General Tarek William Saab announced on Monday that a criminal investigation has been launched into opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia and opposition leader María Corina Machado.^[1]
• The duo has been accused of committing multiple crimes including usurpation of functions, spreading false information to cause fear, incitement of insurrection, association to commit crimes, and conspiracy.^[2]
• Earlier that day, the accused published an open letter saying that González was the winner of the presidential election and called for security forces to 'put themselves on the side of the people,' as the armed forces traditionally arbitrate political disputes in the country.^[2][1]
• On Sunday, top military officials and heavily armed troops appeared alongside Pres. Nicolás Maduro in a show of military unity following his pledge to 'pulverise' challenges to his rule — over 2K protesters have been arrested so far.^[3][4]
• The National Election Council (CNE) declared Maduro as the winner with 51.2% of the vote, while tally sheets collected and analyzed by the opposition purport to show that González secured more than double the votes of Maduro.^[5][6][7]
• While the US, Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay have recognized González as the winner of the election, other countries including China, Russia, Bolivia, Cuba, and Nicaragua have recognized Maduro as president-elect.^[7][5]

Sources: ^[1]CNN, ^[2]teleSURenglish, ^[3]Guardian, ^[4]Bloomberg, ^[5]France 24, ^[6]The Hill and ^[7]RT International.

Narratives

• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Ultimas Noticias. González Urrutia and Machado have now fully embarked on Washington's revamped version of its failed Guaidó coup plan, promoting unverified claims that the radical opposition candidate is president-elect while dismissing the Supreme Court's audit of the results. These latest actions show they were real in their threats to bring 'terrible consequences' for the country, but Venezuela and its people will never back down to such pressure.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Peoplesdispatch. González Urrutia and Machado have now fully embarked on Washington's revamped version of its failed Guaidó coup plan, promoting unverified claims that the radical opposition candidate is president-elect while dismissing the Supreme Court's audit of the results. These latest actions show they were real in their threats to bring 'terrible consequences' for the country, but Venezuela and its people will never back down to such pressure.
• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Washington Post. This mockery of an election has shown that all efforts to ensure a peaceful democratic transition for Venezuela were in vain because Maduro never really intended to carry out free and fair elections — let alone to leave power. This isn't a left-right issue. González is the rightful president-elect, and the world's democracies must recognize that and pressure Maduro.
• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Confidencial. This mockery of an election has shown that all efforts to ensure a peaceful democratic transition for Venezuela were in vain because Maduro never really intended to carry out free and fair elections — let alone to leave power. This isn't a left-right issue. González is the rightful president-elect, and the world's democracies must recognize that and pressure Maduro.

Predictions