Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose nearly 12 years in office have been marked by deep economic and social crisis, was sworn in for a third term yesterday despite a six-month-long election dispute, international calls for him to stand aside and an increase in the US reward offered for his capture.Maduro, president since 2013, was declared the winner of July’s election by both Venezuela’s electoral authority and top court, though detailed tallies confirming his victory have never been published.Venezuela’s opposition says ballot box-level tallies show a landslide win for its former candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who is recognised as president-elect by several countries including the United States. International election observers said the vote was not democratic.The months since the election have seen Gonzalez Urrutia’s flight to Spain in September, his ally Maria Corina Machado going into hiding in Venezuela, and the detentions of high-profile opposition figures and protesters.In the latest in a series of punitive steps, the outgoing Biden administration increased its reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Maduro on drug trafficking charges to $25mn, from a previous $15mn.It also issued a $25mn reward for Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and a $15mn reward for Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino, as well as new sanctions against eight other officials including the head of state oil company PDVSA Hector Obregon.The US indicted Maduro and others on narcotics and corruption charges, among others, in 2020. Maduro has rejected the accusations.The US move coincided with sanctions by Britain and the European Union each targeting 15 officials, including members of the National Electoral Council and the security forces, and Canadian sanctions targeting 14 current and former officials.The Maduro government has always rejected all sanctions, saying that they are illegitimate measures that amount to an “economic war” designed to cripple Venezuela.“The outgoing government of the United States doesn’t know how to take revenge on us,” Maduro said during his inauguration speech, without directly mentioning sanctions.The Venezuelan communications ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sanctions.Maduro and his allies have cheered what they say is the country’s resilience despite the measures, though they have historically blamed some economic hardships and shortages on sanctions.Gonzalez Urrutia, who has been on a whistle-stop tour of the Americas this week, has said he will return to Venezuela to take up the mantle of president, but has given no details.The government, which has accused the opposition of fomenting fascist plots against it, has said that Gonzalez Urrutia will be arrested if he returns and offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to his capture.Opposition leaders Gonzalez Urrutia and Machado are being investigated by the attorney-general’s office for alleged conspiracy, but only the former has a public warrant out for his arrest.Machado’s first public appearance since August at an anti-government march in Caracas on Thursday was marred by a brief detention.Her Vente Venezuela political movement said guns were fired and Machado was knocked off the motorcycle on which she was leaving the event.She was then held and forced to film several videos, it said.One video shared on social media and by government officials showed her sitting on a curb and recounting losing her wallet.The government scoffed at the incident and denied any involvement.Some 42 people have been detained for political reasons since Tuesday, judicial non-governmental organisation (NGO) Foro Penal said.Maduro was sworn in at the national assembly in Caracas and said that he was taking his oath in the name of 16th century Indigenous leader Guaicaipuro and late president Hugo Chavez, his mentor, among others.“May this new presidential term be a period of peace, of prosperity, of equality and the new democracy,” Maduro said, adding he would convene a commission dedicated to constitutional reform. “This act is possible because Venezuela is peaceful, in full exercise of its national sovereignty, of its popular sovereignty, of its national independence.”Some 2,000 invitees from 125 countries attended the inauguration, according to the government.Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega, staunch allies of Maduro, attended as did Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament.Venezuela’s economy has experienced a prolonged crisis marked by triple-digit inflation and the exodus of more than 7mn migrants seeking better opportunities abroad.
