Daniel Ortega says a “coup” has been installed in Venezuela against Nicolás Maduro

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said that a “coup” has been launched in Venezuela against his Venezuelan ally and counterpart, Nicolás Maduro.

In Venezuela, “they have now installed a coup against President Nicolás Maduro in which they manipulate everything that is technological modernity, which should serve for good and not for evil,” declared the Nicaraguan president during an event on the occasion of the 44th anniversary of the Naval Force of the Nicaraguan Army, held in Managua and broadcast on national television.

Ortega said that his government, which he has led since 2007, is certain that the late “Commander (Hugo) Chavez is in Venezuela accompanying the people, accompanying Nicolas, who will be victors, are victors and will be victors.”

Maduro accused WhatsApp, from the US company Meta, of having given the leaders of the majority opposition, Edmundo González Urrutia and María Corina Machado, “the entire database” of the Caribbean country, with personal information of the users of this instant messaging application.

Campaign

Since last week, Maduro has been leading a campaign against social media and apps like WhatsApp, which he says are being used in the country to threaten military and police officers, as well as community leaders, for which he repeatedly asks the population to delete them, a process that he said on Tuesday should be “accelerated,” without showing messages that prove his accusations.

Maduro, who last Thursday ordered the social network X to be taken out of circulation for 10 days, is insisting on these accusations after the presidential elections of July 28, in which, according to the electoral body, he won, a result rejected by the majority opposition, which denounces “fraud”, and which generated multiple protests in the country, seen by the Government as “criminal” and “terrorist” actions.

According to state sources, more than 2,400 people have been arrested since July 29 – some in demonstrations and others in police operations – while 25 people died in acts of violence that the government attributes to the opposition, while anti-Chavez supporters blame the state security forces, on orders from their superiors.

Memory

During the ceremony in Managua, Ortega also remembered the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro (1926-2016) on the occasion of the 98th anniversary of his birth, whom he referred to as “the commander of commanders.”

He also paid tribute to the late former “commander of the revolution” and one of the founders of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), Tomás Borge Martínez (1930-2012), on the occasion of the 94th anniversary of his birth.

Managua / EFE