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Post-Election Tensions Rise in Venezuela Amid Deadly Protests Post-Election Tensions Escalate in Venezuela as Demonstrations Turn Deadly
(about 1 hour later)
CARACAS, Venezuela — Tensions escalated here on Tuesday as the newly elected president, Nicolás Maduro, and his opponent blamed each other for the violence that has left at least five people dead, and Mr. Maduro accused the United States of being behind that violence. CARACAS, Venezuela — Tensions escalated here on Tuesday as the newly elected president, Nicolás Maduro, and his opponent blamed each other for the violence that has left at least seven people dead, and Mr. Maduro accused the United States of being behind that violence.
The new president vowed to crack down on protests and said he would block a march called by his opponent, Henrique Capriles Radonski, to demand a recount of the vote. Mr. Capriles claims he is the real winner of the extremely close election on Sunday and has refused to recognize the result.The new president vowed to crack down on protests and said he would block a march called by his opponent, Henrique Capriles Radonski, to demand a recount of the vote. Mr. Capriles claims he is the real winner of the extremely close election on Sunday and has refused to recognize the result.
Mr. Capriles responded to Mr. Maduro by calling off the march to the headquarters of the National Electoral Council, which had been planned for Wednesday, saying he had received information that the government planned to infiltrate the march and cause violence. He called on his followers instead to bang pots at their homes in a traditional Venezuelan protest. Mr. Capriles responded to Mr. Maduro on Tuesday by calling off the march to the headquarters of the National Electoral Council, which had been planned for Wednesday, saying he had received information that the government planned to infiltrate the march and cause violence. He called on his followers instead to bang pots at their homes in a traditional Venezuelan protest.
Mr. Maduro was declared the winner of Sunday’s election with 50.8 percent of the vote, to 49 percent for Mr. Capriles, according to the current government count. The tally has Mr. Maduro ahead by about 270,000 votes, out of 14.8 million cast, although not all votes have been counted. Among those outstanding are Venezuelans living in foreign countries, wo tend to vote for the opposition.Mr. Maduro was declared the winner of Sunday’s election with 50.8 percent of the vote, to 49 percent for Mr. Capriles, according to the current government count. The tally has Mr. Maduro ahead by about 270,000 votes, out of 14.8 million cast, although not all votes have been counted. Among those outstanding are Venezuelans living in foreign countries, wo tend to vote for the opposition.
Mr. Maduro is to complete the six-year term of former President Hugo Chávez, who had cancer and died March 5, not long after he had been elected to another term. Mr. Maduro is to complete the six-year term of former President Hugo Chávez, who had cancer and died March 5. His new term had begun in January.
In an extraordinary day of charges and countercharges, Mr. Maduro cut into regular television and radio programming three times with special national broadcasts that all stations are required to carry. Each time he angrily criticized Mr. Capriles, sometimes working himself into what seemed to be a near hysteria, shouting until he was nearly out of breath, often stabbing his finger directly at the camera. He kept reaching for more and more extreme points of reference, comparing the opposition to the leaders of Nazi Germany, accusing them of planning a coup and saying they hoped to bring about a civil war like those in Libya or Syria.
“The march to the center of Caracas will not be permitted,” Mr. Maduro said in a special broadcast Tuesday on national television, in which he also accused the opposition of planning a coup. “I will use a hard hand against fascism and intolerance. I declare it. If they want to overthrow me, come and get me. Here I am, with the people and the armed forces.”“The march to the center of Caracas will not be permitted,” Mr. Maduro said in a special broadcast Tuesday on national television, in which he also accused the opposition of planning a coup. “I will use a hard hand against fascism and intolerance. I declare it. If they want to overthrow me, come and get me. Here I am, with the people and the armed forces.”
Mr. Capriles responded at a news conference, saying the government had given T-shirts to people so they would attend Wednesday’s march and then carry out violent acts. He said seven people had died at opposition protests on Monday in different parts of the country and, pointing a finger at the camera, he said Mr. Capriles was responsible.
“Their agenda is violence,” he said. “Our agenda is peaceful protest.” At an afternoon news conference, Mr. Capriles said the government had given T-shirts to people who would attend Wednesday’s march and then carry out violent acts. “Their agenda is violence,” he said. “Our agenda is peaceful protest.”
He asked Mr. Maduro to tone down his discourse, “to calm down a little.”
“I feel that he is becoming delirious,” he said.
Mr. Capriles also questioned the government claims that all the deaths cited were associated with the protests.
In a second broadcast, from an office of the government-run oil company, PDVSA, Mr. Maduro lashed out at Washington.
“The United States Embassy has financed all the acts of violence in this country,” he said, adding that violent groups were directed by two American military attachés that he had expelled the day that Mr. Chávez died. And he accused another American Embassy employee of plotting to sabotage the nation’s electrical system.
In each broadcast, Mr. Maduro kept returning obsessively to the topic of threats to his government, elaborating on the theme in new ways. At one point he demanded that television stations choose sides. “Decide who you are with, with the country and peace and the people, or are you going to go back to be with fascism,” he shouted.
The third time Mr. Maduro broke into regular television and radio programming, he cut off the broadcast of Mr. Capriles’s news conference. Speaking from a hospital, he responded to Mr. Capriles’s call for his followers to bang pots and pans each night, telling his own supporters to play loud music and shoot off fireworks at the same time to drown out the opposition protest.
In his news conference, Mr. Capriles said that his campaign had received information on thousands of voting irregularities, including opposition witnesses who were forcibly removed from voting centers and voters intimidated by armed motorcyclists.
Among those reported killed on Monday was a 21-year-old man, Ender José Bastardo, who was marching in a protest in Cumanacoa, in eastern Venezuela, when shots were fired from a nearby building, according to his father, William Bastardo. Two other people in the protest were reported killed.

Paula Ramón and María Eugenia Díaz contributed reporting from Caracas, and María Iguarán from Cumaná, Venezuela.