Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro has been sworn in for a third presidential term despite the protests of the country’s opposition movement, capping more than five months of dispute over last summer’s contested election.
The ceremony took place on Friday in a small room of the National Assembly, a marked difference from previous ceremonies held in the building’s main hall.
Maduro was sworn in by National Assembly leader Jorge Rodríguez, who placed the presidential sash on him, prompting thunderous applause from those in attendance.
“We’ve achieved what we knew we would achieve,” Maduro said during his first speech after being sworn in.
“The power given to me was not given by a foreign government, a foreign president or a gringo government,” Maduro said at the event, which saw Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Cuba’s Miguel Diaz-Canel in attendance. “No one in this world can impose a president in Venezuela.”
China and Russia also sent representatives, with Russia’s State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin seen arriving late on a state media broadcast after the ceremony began ahead of schedule.
Former Bolivian President Evo Morales expressed support for Maduro, writing on X that his nation “salutes the Venezuelan people who once again defeated attempts to destabilise their government.”
Maduro was proclaimed winner of the country’s presidential election on July 28, by electoral authorities under the tight control of the ruling Socialist Party.
But Venezuela’s opposition has published thousands of voting tallies claiming that their candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, had actually won the vote with 67 per cent against Maduro’s 30 per cent.
Independent observers such as the Carter Center and the Colombian Electoral Mission, as well as CNN’s own analysis, have found the opposition tallies to be legitimate. And several nations, including the United States, have since recognised Gonzalez as Venezuela’s rightful president-elect.
Minutes after Maduro’s inauguration, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Maduro, “has once again demonstrated a complete disregard for democratic norms and is proceeding with an illegitimate inauguration today.”
González, who has been in exile since September with a bounty on his head by Venezuelan authorities, had pledged to return to Caracas this week in a potential last challenge to Maduro’s inauguration. His last known location on Friday was the Dominican Republic, where he had recently met with regional leaders. (CNN)
