Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at election protests across Venezuela, an Israeli strike on a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut, and India’s deadliest landslides in years.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at election protests across Venezuela, an Israeli strike on a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut, and India’s deadliest landslides in years.
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Caracas’s Boiling Point
Anti-government protesters clashed with security forces across Venezuela on Tuesday over the disputed results of the nation’s July 28 presidential election. Both incumbent President Nicolás Maduro and opposition candidate Edmundo González declared victory on Monday, citing different voting numbers. Claims of intimidation and electoral fraud have since sparked mass demonstrations and international calls for a recount.
Protests began on Monday, with security forces and armed Maduro-aligned gangs firing tear gas and rubber bullets at marchers. At least 11 people have been killed thus far. Local nonprofit Provea said relatives of 25 students who protested in front of Caracas’s Experimental Security University have reported their loved ones missing. And nearly 750 people have been arrested, including Freddy Superlano, a senior member of the opposition Popular Will party. Maduro has condemned the protests and accused the opposition of fomenting an attempted “coup” of a “fascist and counterrevolutionary” nature.
“As Monday progressed, it became clear that Maduro was willing to take the next step—and become a fully rogue, isolated, Nicaragua-style regime if necessary to retain power,” reporter Brian Winter wrote for Americas Quarterly.
Venezuela’s government-controlled National Electoral Council (CNE) declared on Monday that Maduro had won the race, receiving 51 percent of the vote against González’s 44 percent; however, unlike in past elections, the CNE has so far refused to publicly release the full, detailed tally counts. Popular opposition icon María Corina Machado—who was supposed to face off Maduro before being barred from running in January—said her movement had obtained paper tallies from 73 percent of the country’s polling stations showing that González had received 3.5 million more votes than Maduro.
The election observation department of the Organization of American States (OAS) said on Tuesday that the CNE’s figures were unreliable. “The events of election night confirm a coordinated strategy, unfolding over recent months, to undermine the integrity of the electoral process,” the OAS said. “What happened shows, once again, that the CNE, its authorities and the Venezuelan electoral system are at the service of the executive power, not citizens.”
China and Russia backed Maduro’s claims on Tuesday. “China will, as always, firmly support Venezuela’s efforts to safeguard national sovereignty, national dignity, and social stability and firmly support Venezuela’s just cause of opposing external interference,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said. There has been no evidence of foreign or other external interference in Venezuela’s election process. Bolivia, Cuba, and Honduras also congratulated Maduro on his claimed victory.
However, nine Latin American countries—Argentina, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay—called for an emergency meeting of the OAS’s Permanent Council and said they had “profound concern” over the election results. Peru ordered all Venezuelan diplomats on Monday to leave the country within 72 hours, citing “serious and arbitrary decisions made today by the Venezuelan regime.” And several Western powers—including the United States, the European Union, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico—have demanded that Maduro hold a transparent recount overseen by independent auditors. The OAS will hold a meeting on Wednesday to further discuss Venezuela’s electoral crisis.
Today’s Most Read
What We’re Following
Beirut strike. Israeli forces launched a strike in Beirut on Tuesday, reportedly targeting Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah commander who Israel said was responsible for the militant group’s attack on Saturday that killed 12 children playing soccer in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. It is unclear if Shukr was killed. Shukr has also long been wanted by the FBI for his alleged involvement in the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings, which killed 241 U.S. military personnel.
The Israeli strike raised fears of further escalation in the country’s ongoing conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon. The United States had reportedly previously warned Israel that such a retaliation could make the crisis “spiral out of control,” according to Israeli and U.S. officials.
Meanwhile, far-right demonstrators, including at least three lawmakers from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, stormed two Israeli military bases on Tuesday to protest the detention of nine Israeli reservists suspected of raping and abusing a Palestinian prisoner. Sde Teiman base in the Negev Desert and Beit Lid base in central Israel were targeted, the latter of which is housing the soldiers. Ultra-nationalists also tried to break into another Israeli base on Monday.
Rights groups have accused Israel of abusing Palestinian detainees in the past. At least 13 Palestinians from the West Bank and Israel have died in Israeli jails since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack, according to Physicians for Human Rights Israel. The Washington Post reported on Monday that Palestinian prisoners regularly receive beatings, are denied food and medical care, and face other psychological and physical abuse while in detention.
Deadly natural disaster. Landslides in India’s Kerala state killed at least 109 people and injured more than 170 others on Tuesday. Many of those killed worked on tea estates and lived in small houses or makeshift shelters. Rescue operations remain underway, but Kerala’s difficult terrain is hampering their efforts; the state recorded the highest number of landslides in India from 2015 to 2022. More than 3,000 people in Kerala have been evacuated to relief camps thus far.
“My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones and prayers with those injured,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X. The state government declared a two-day state of mourning on Tuesday and postponed all public functions. This was the deadliest natural disaster to hit India since 2018, when mass flooding killed nearly 400 people.
Maritime drills. The Russian navy conducted military exercises in the Arctic and Pacific oceans as well as the Baltic and Caspian seas on Tuesday. The drills included combat exercises to practice using anti-aircraft missiles, anti-submarine weapons, and other artillery against a simulated enemy. Around 20,000 personnel and 300 vessels participated in the drills.
Moscow has the third-most powerful navy in the world. A year after invading Ukraine, Russia joined China and South Africa in trilateral maritime exercises. The Kremlin has conducted nuclear missile launcher drills and tactical nuclear weapons deployment exercises over the past two months to demonstrate its strength against the West, and this month, Russian forces coordinated with the Chinese military for exercises in the disputed South China Sea.
Odds and Ends
Trash-talking at the Olympics just got a whole lot cheesier. The Italian Fencing Federation announced on Monday that it would file a formal complaint against a referee call declaring Hong Kong fencer Cheung Ka Long the winner over Italy’s Filippo Macchi. In response, Pizza Hut’s Hong Kong and Macao branches announced free pineapple toppings on Tuesday for all Hong Kong fans. The controversial pizza additive is not one that many pizza aficionados gravitate toward—and is far from a traditional Italian slice.
The post Venezuelan Protesters Demand Transparent Election Recount appeared first on Foreign Policy.
