Nicolas Maduro said critics of his government are waiting for a “tragedy” to stop the elections because they know they will lose.

It was at this point that he began his speech to attack his critics:

“They’re desperately waiting for something big to happen, a disaster, a tragedy, something to happen, because they know they’re lost. If they eat the light, they’re going to regret it, and they’re going to regret it for 200 years, because on July 28th, we’re going to elect a president.”

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro warned this week that Venezuela’s fate in the 21st century depends on his victory in next Sunday’s presidential election, July 28, and warned of the possibility of “civil war” if he loses.

“If they do not want Venezuela to descend into a bloodbath, into a fratricidal civil war, a product of fascists, let us guarantee the greatest success, the greatest victory in the electoral history of our people,” he said at a public event in Caracas, CNN reported.

In this sense, he said that only with his victory can peace in the country be guaranteed: “The stronger the victory, the more guarantees of peace we will have. The stronger the votes, the more guarantees for the future we are going to guarantee these girls and boys.”

For her part, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado confirmed on Wednesday that there is a social movement of all ages and in all regions of the country for “liberation” but also for redemption, because, she said, Venezuelans must heal their wounds and meet again.

“This is a social movement (…) a movement of liberation, but also of redemption, we must heal these wounds and rediscover ourselves as Venezuelans,” he told the media in the state of Portuguesa (centre), where he campaigned in support of Edmundo González Urrutia, the candidate of the largest anti-Chavista coalition, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD).

He also condemned the attempt to intimidate or persecute citizens of Guanare, the capital of Portugal, from participating in their activities, but stressed the “brave and civil manner in which this society has responded.”

He added that three trucks were “seized by force” and the drivers were “detained”, as well as the event’s sound equipment, “to prevent people from coming to frighten the population”.

On Tuesday, the NGO Foro Penal reported that Venezuelan authorities have arrested 102 people linked to González Urrutia’s campaign this year, adding today Milciades Avila, a former police officer and head of security for Machado’s team, who was arrested early Wednesday on suspicion of “gender violence against women” who “tried to attack” the anti-Chavista candidate last Saturday.

Of the 102 arrests (some for a few hours, others with jail sentences to date), 77 have occurred since the campaign’s official launch on July 4, reflecting “a clear pattern of action against activists, militants, even collaborators or people who provide services” to González Urrutia and Machado, said Gonzalo Himiob, director of Penal Forum.

(According to EFE and Aristegui Noticias)