Anti-government activists across Venezuela are tearing down giant statues of Hugo Chavez to express their anger at the alleged election theft of the late president’s handpicked successor, Nicolás Maduro.
Twisted steel bars and chunks of concrete lay under a pedestal in the seaside city of La Guaira outside the capital, Caracas, where a group of protesters on Monday night tore down a portrait of Chavez dedicated by Maduro in 2017.
Video provided to The Associated Press by a protester showed the moment the 12-foot-tall statue of leader El Comandante was toppled amid vociferous chants that “this government is going to fall.” After the statue was removed, it was dragged across the square on motorcycles, doused with gasoline and set on fire, protesters said.
Venezuela’s Maduro faces political collapse: Rivals claim evidence of election ‘fraud’, police crack down on protests
“This is a powerful symbol for them,” the protester said. “Every time we deal with one of their symbols, we take away some of their power.”
This is not the first time a monument honoring the so-called founder of the Bolivarian Revolution has been attacked by an angry mob. The same phenomenon occurred during the waves of anti-government riots in 2017 and 2019.
A statue of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez stands on a statue of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. A statue of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez stands on a The base in Rencia came a day after people protested against official election results confirming the victory of current President Nicolás Maduro, a Chávez protégé. (AP Photo/Jacinto Oliveros)
But the simultaneous attacks – five in the past 24 hours – underscored the anger felt by many Venezuelans after the National Electoral Commission declared Maduro the winner of Sunday’s presidential election. The opposition said its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, received more than twice as many votes as the incumbent candidate.
A plainclothes military intelligence officer blocked a reporter from trying to take photos of the remains of La Guaira’s destroyed statue. The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the country was “at war” and any disrespect for Chavez would offend millions of Venezuelans who revere the former army paratrooper and anti-imperialist icon.
Maduro said several people had been arrested in the attack, which he likened to images of U.S.-driven revolutions in post-Soviet countries such as Ukraine and Georgia.
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“What’s in these people’s heads? What’s in their hearts?” Maduro asked in a televised speech on Monday night, in which he played some images of the attack. “Imagine what they would be able to do if they were given power here one day.”
