A fire allegedly set by an armed commando group seeking the removal of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro destroyed most of the South American nation’s voting machines that were kept at the election council’s main warehouse.
The government-backed National Electoral Council reported that Saturday’s blaze obliterated 49,323 voting machines at the facility in the capital, Caracas.
The fire also destroyed nearly 50,000 fingerprint readers and 600 computers.
‘We have decided to start this offensive against Maduro and his people, because he has plunged our people into hell, now we will take this flame to them,’ declared a masked man, alleging to be a member of the Venezuelan Patriotic Front, in a video that was shared by the opposition group on social media Sunday.
A fire on Saturday afternoon at Venezuela’s National Electoral Council main warehouse destroyed more than 49,323 voting machines and almost 50,000 fingerprint readers. The Venezuelan Patriotic Front, an armed opposition group seeking the removal of President Nicolás Maduro, claimed responsibility
‘On March 7, Operation Sodoma began in the warehouses of the CNE [National Electoral Council], this entity that has violated the rights of the people in fraudulent elections through the CANTV [National Telephone Company of Venezuela], where the data controlled by Cuba’s servers are issued, and that the accomplices of the CNE, like Tibisay Lucena [president of the entity], have allowed. We do accept elections that cannot be manipulated by any program or biased entity.’
Lucena shot back at the Venezuelan Patriotic Front’s claims Monday, and said the latest incident would not prevent a planned vote to replace lawmakers in the last opposition-controlled federal institution.
‘There was little that could be rescued,’ Lucena said in a statement broadcast on state television.
‘If there are small groups (of people) who think that this will end our constitutionally established electoral processes, they are very wrong.’
Members of the Venezuelan Patriotic Front appeared in a video that was shared on social media Sunday in which the opposition group said it set the Venezuela’s National Electoral Council main warehouse because the government-backed agency ‘has violated the rights of the people in fraudulent elections’
The National Electoral Council said its main facility in Caracas lost 49,323 voting machines, 50,000 fingerprint readers and 600 computers as a result of Saturday’s fire. No injuries were reported
Despite having more than 40,000 voting machines and more than 50,000 fingerprint readers destroyed in Saturday’s blaze at a warehouse in Caracas, Venezuela’s National Electoral Council said it is hopeful that this year’s legislative elections will go forward
She did not elaborate on how many voting machines were still available for use, or how the incident would affect future elections.
Lucena said she had asked two Miranda state prosecutors to look into the cause of the blaze, which did not cause any injuries.
‘The CNE wants to know the truth: What was the origin of the fire and how did it spread so rapidly?’ she said in a state broadcast. ‘No hypothesis is being discarded.’
First responders were able to rescue only 562 voting machines and 724 fingerprint readers.
The arson could potentially complicate parliamentary elections scheduled for this year in the South American nation, once one of Latin America’s richest nations, sitting atop the world’s largest oil reserves.
Firefighters met Monday to work in the aftermath of a fire at a warehouse of the National Electoral Council, where tens of thousands of voting machines and fingerprint readers were destroyed Saturday
Tibisay Lucena, president of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, said two Miranda state prosecutors would be appointed with investigating the cause of a fire at the board’s main warehouse where most of the country’s voting machines were destroyed Saturday
However, it has been on a steady downward spiral into social and economic crisis in recent years.
Venezuela’s conflict has driven more than 4.5 million people to flee the nation. They’re escaping inflation that’s left the monthly minimum wage at the equivalent to roughly $4 and shortages of basic goods, such as medicine.
Smartmatic, the company that manufactures the equipment, halted its Venezuelan operations in 2017 after a disputed referendum to create a parliamentary superbody known as the Constituent Assembly. The firm said the results of that vote had been inflated by at least 1 million votes in favor of the government.
Venezuela’s elections have come under heavy criticism since Maduro’s 2018 re-election was widely dismissed as rigged in his favor, leading dozens of governments around the world to disavow his government in 2019.
Venezuela holds elections this year for parliament, which is currently controlled by the opposition.
Maduro’s adversaries are demanding that the country instead hold a new presidential election, and have not yet said whether they will participate in the legislative election. A date for that vote has not been set.
First responders return a warehouse in Caracas, Venezuela, where more than 40,000 voting machines and more than 50,000 fingerprint readers were destroyed in a fire Saturday. First responders were able to rescue only 562 voting machines and 724 fingerprint readers