CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s top prosecutor on Monday announced a criminal investigation against the opposition’s presidential candidate Edmundo González and its leader Maria Corina Machado over their call on the armed forces to abandon their support for President Nicolás Maduro and to stop repressing demonstrators.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab's statement tied the investigation directly to a written appeal the two members of the opposition sent hours earlier about Maduro and the demonstrators who have come out in force to defend their votes in the July 28 election.
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Homes cover a hill in the Catia neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
People hang out on a street of Catia neighborhood in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A public bus traverses the Catia neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
People shop at a street market in the Petare neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
People shop at a street market in the Petare neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A woman in a poncho protects herself from rain in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A man rests under a bridge with religious statues in the Petare neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A soldier carries chairs as election workers prepare polling stations in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, July 26, 2024. The presidential election is set for July 28. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A voter exits a polling station guarded by military personnel during the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)
President Nicolas Maduro speaks to supporters during a government rally in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Military personnel wait for their turn to vote in the presidential elections at Fort Tiuna in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
National Guards work to disperse protesters the day after the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
National guards ride on a truck in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, July 26, 2024. The presidential election is set for July 28. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado holds a national flag while waving to supporters as she arrives for a rally in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A soldier guards the entrance of an open voting center during the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Residents face National Guards as they block a street to protest the official results the day after the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
A National Guard officer addresses voters lining up at the Andres Bello School as opposition poll watchers argue they are not being allowed to enter the voting center during the presidential elections in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)
Military personnel help assist an elderly voter during the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Residents try to block a street to protest the official results the day after the presidential election as National Guards work to remove them in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Saab, in a written announcement posted on the social media site X, said the duo “falsely announced a winner of the presidential election other than the one proclaimed by the National Electoral Council, the only body qualified to do so" and they openly incited “police and military officials to disobey the laws.”
Gonzalez’s and Machado’s written appeal shows the alleged commission of various crimes including usurpation of functions, dissemination of false information to cause fear and conspiracy, Saab said.
The armed forces are traditionally the arbiter of political disputes in Venezuela. But they’ve shown no signs of ditching Maduro even in the face of credible evidence presented by the opposition that it trounced the self-proclaimed socialist at the polls by a more than 2-to-1 margin.
González and Machado called on rank and file members of the security forces to rethink their loyalty to Maduro.
“We appeal to the conscience of the military and police to put themselves on the side of the people and their families,” the two wrote in a long message.
“We won this election without any doubt. It was an electoral avalanche,” the two continued. “Now it's up to all of us to respect the voice of the people.”
Authorities have declared Maduro the victor in last Sunday’s election but have yet to produce voting tallies to prove he won. The opposition claims to have collected records from more than 80% of the 30,000 polling booths nationwide showing it won.
Maduro announced Saturday that the government has arrested 2,000 opponents and at a rally in Caracas he pledged to detain more people and send them to prison. The post-electoral uprising has also claimed at least 11 lives, according to Foro Penal, a Caracas-based human rights group.
The Venezuela-based human rights organization Provea, in a report issued Monday analyzing the post-election climate, concluded that the government’s response in silencing people’s discontent has been “through the disproportionate use of force” that has resulted in the deaths of protesters and “the open coordinated action between security forces and groups of armed civilians in favor of Nicolás Maduro to calm the protests" which has led to an increase in arbitrary arrests.
The organization reported that based on figures announced by the Attorney General's Office last week, the number of arrests against real or perceived government opponents is equivalent to about 42% “of the total number of arbitrary arrests recorded by Provea between April and August 2017, the most important cycle of protests in the country since 1989.”
González and Machado in their missive called on Venezuelans with family members serving in the security forces to urge their loved ones not to attack protesters and not obey illegal orders. It said it would offer “guarantees” to soldiers who follow the constitution even while promising there would be no impunity for those behind abuses and following illegal orders.
Both González, a former diplomat, and Machado — who was barred by the government from running — have gone into hiding, saying they fear they will be arrested or killed. Maduro and his cadres have threatened to lock them both up.
As Venezuelans fight Maduro on the streets, pressure is also building internationally for the Venezuelan government to publish the full breakdown of the electoral results.
But so far, Maduro has instead asked the country's supreme court — which like all institutions in Venezuela is packed with loyalists — to review any claims of irregularities.
“Respect for popular sovereignty is what moves us to defend the transparency of the (election) results," Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Monday in a press conference alongside fellow leftist President Gabriel Boric of Chile.
Boric, who cast doubt on Maduro’s victory claim in an unexpectedly strong statement within hours of Venezuela’s July 28 election, told reporters that he and Lula discussed the situation in Venezuela on Monday, without elaborating. The leaders did not take questions and their carefully worded statements signaled how leftist leaders in the region are gingerly trying to show respect for Venezuela's sovereignty while voicing doubts about the official results.
A few of Maduro’s staunch allies — including Russia, China and Cuba — have applauded his victory. On Monday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian held a telephone call with Maduro and reiterated his congratulations and “condemned any foreign interference in Venezuela’s internal affairs,” Pezeshkian’s office said.
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AP Writers Joshua Goodman in Miami and Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, contributed to this report.
Homes cover a hill in the Catia neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
People hang out on a street of Catia neighborhood in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A public bus traverses the Catia neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
People shop at a street market in the Petare neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
People shop at a street market in the Petare neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A woman in a poncho protects herself from rain in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A man rests under a bridge with religious statues in the Petare neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A soldier carries chairs as election workers prepare polling stations in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, July 26, 2024. The presidential election is set for July 28. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A voter exits a polling station guarded by military personnel during the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)
President Nicolas Maduro speaks to supporters during a government rally in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Military personnel wait for their turn to vote in the presidential elections at Fort Tiuna in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
National Guards work to disperse protesters the day after the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
National guards ride on a truck in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, July 26, 2024. The presidential election is set for July 28. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado holds a national flag while waving to supporters as she arrives for a rally in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A soldier guards the entrance of an open voting center during the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Residents face National Guards as they block a street to protest the official results the day after the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
A National Guard officer addresses voters lining up at the Andres Bello School as opposition poll watchers argue they are not being allowed to enter the voting center during the presidential elections in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)
Military personnel help assist an elderly voter during the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Residents try to block a street to protest the official results the day after the presidential election as National Guards work to remove them in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
What's in a name change, after all?
The water bordered by the Southern United States, Mexico and Cuba will be critical to shipping lanes and vacationers whether it’s called the Gulf of Mexico, as it has been for four centuries, or the Gulf of America, as President Donald Trump ordered this week. North America’s highest mountain peak will still loom above Alaska whether it’s called Mt. Denali, as ordered by former President Barack Obama in 2015, or changed back to Mt. McKinley as Trump also decreed.
But Trump's territorial assertions, in line with his “America First” worldview, sparked a round of rethinking by mapmakers and teachers, snark on social media and sarcasm by at least one other world leader. And though Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis put the Trumpian “Gulf of America” on an official document and some other gulf-adjacent states were considering doing the same, it was not clear how many others would follow Trump's lead.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum joked that if Trump went ahead with the renaming, her country would rename North America “Mexican America.” On Tuesday, she toned it down: “For us and for the entire world it will continue to be called the Gulf of Mexico.”
Map lines are inherently political. After all, they're representations of the places that are important to human beings — and those priorities can be delicate and contentious, even more so in a globalized world.
There’s no agreed-upon scheme to name boundaries and features across the Earth.
“Denali” is the mountain's preferred name for Alaska Natives, while “McKinley" is a tribute to President William McKinley, designated in the late 19th century by a gold prospector. China sees Taiwan as its own territory, and the countries surrounding what the United States calls the South China Sea have multiple names for the same body of water.
The Persian Gulf has been widely known by that name since the 16th century, although usage of “Gulf” and “Arabian Gulf” is dominant in many countries in the Middle East. The government of Iran — formerly Persia — threatened to sue Google in 2012 over the company’s decision not to label the body of water at all on its maps. Many Arab countries don’t recognize Israel and instead call it Palestine. And in many official releases, Israel calls the occupied West Bank by its biblical name, “Judea and Samaria.”
Americans and Mexicans diverge on what to call another key body of water, the river that forms the border between Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. Americans call it the Rio Grande; Mexicans call it the Rio Bravo.
Trump's executive order — titled “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness” — concludes thusly: “It is in the national interest to promote the extraordinary heritage of our Nation and ensure future generations of American citizens celebrate the legacy of our American heroes. The naming of our national treasures, including breathtaking natural wonders and historic works of art, should honor the contributions of visionary and patriotic Americans in our Nation’s rich past.”
But what to call the gulf with the 3,700-mile coastline?
“It is, I suppose, an internationally recognized sea, but (to be honest), a situation like this has never come up before so I need to confirm the appropriate convention,” said Peter Bellerby, who said he was talking over the issue with the cartographers at his London company, Bellerby & Co. Globemakers. “If, for instance, he wanted to change the Atlantic Ocean to the American Ocean, we would probably just ignore it."
As of Wednesday night, map applications for Google and Apple still called the mountain and the gulf by their old names. Spokespersons for those platforms did not immediately respond to emailed questions.
A spokesperson for National Geographic, one of the most prominent map makers in the U.S., said this week that the company does not comment on individual cases and referred questions to a statement on its web site, which reads in part that it "strives to be apolitical, to consult multiple authoritative sources, and to make independent decisions based on extensive research.” National Geographic also has a policy of including explanatory notes for place names in dispute, citing as an example a body of water between Japan and the Korean peninsula, referred to as the Sea of Japan by the Japanese and the East Sea by Koreans.
In discussion on social media, one thread noted that the Sears Tower in Chicago was renamed the Willis Tower in 2009, though it's still commonly known by its original moniker. Pennsylvania's capital, Harrisburg, renamed its Market Street to Martin Luther King Boulevard and then switched back to Market Street several years later — with loud complaints both times. In 2017, New York's Tappan Zee Bridge was renamed for the late Gov. Mario Cuomo to great controversy. The new name appears on maps, but “no one calls it that,” noted another user.
“Are we going to start teaching this as the name of the body of water?” asked one Reddit poster on Tuesday.
“I guess you can tell students that SOME PEOPLE want to rename this body of water the Gulf of America, but everyone else in the world calls it the Gulf of Mexico,” came one answer. “Cover all your bases — they know the reality-based name, but also the wannabe name as well.”
Wrote another user: “I'll call it the Gulf of America when I'm forced to call the Tappan Zee the Mario Cuomo Bridge, which is to say never.”
FILE - President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
FILE - Peter Bellerby, the founder of Bellerby & Co. Globemakers, holds a globe at a studio in London, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
FILE - A boat is seen on the Susitna River near Talkeetna, Alaska, on Sunday, June 13, 2021, with Denali in the background. Denali, the tallest mountain on the North American continent, is located about 60 miles northwest of Talkeetna. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)
FILE - The water in the Gulf of Mexico appears bluer than usual off of East Beach, Saturday, June 24, 2023, in Galveston, Texas. (Jill Karnicki/Houston Chronicle via AP, File)