Probe launched into Machado's alleged involvement in system hacking

Monday, July 29th 2024 - 21:26 UTC

Full article 1 comment

Saab said Machado, Leopoldo López, and Lester Toledo had been involved in the cyberattack staged from North Macedonia

Venezuela's Chief Prosecutor Tarek William Saab announced Monday that an inquiry had been launched into opposition leader María Corina Machado's alleged involvement in the hacking of the National Electoral Council's (CNE) data transmission system from North Macedonia during Sunday's elections.

Saab also mentioned Lester Toledo and Leopoldo López as accomplices in the maneuver, despite which the incumbent President Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner with 51.2% of the vote against Edmundo González Urrutia's 44.2%. Toledo is a former Congressman and member of the opposition party Voluntad Popular while López is a co-founder of the opposition party Primero Justicia.

However, Maduro's victory has been questioned by many foreign leaders in addition to the Unitarian Democratic Platform (PUD)endorsing González Urrutia given Machado's 15-year disenfranchisement.

Without showing any evidence, Saab insisted that there was an ”aggression to the electric system and a computer attack against the data transmission system of the National Electoral Council (CNE),“ which has also failed to release the minutes of each polling station.

Saab also pointed out that the attack had been carried out from North Macedonia and ”would have had the intention of manipulating data that was being received by the CNE,“ due to which the first bulletin announcing Maduro's victory was read out later than planned.

The prosecutor also claimed that the figures shown by the opposition had been ”made up“ after they said they would not be acknowledging Maduro's win because they had data proving otherwise. ”We have 100% of the CNE minutes and this information coincides in that Edmundo González Urrutia obtained 70% of the votes and Nicolás Maduro 30%,“ Machado said.

”Venezuela has a new president-elect and he is Edmundo González Urrutia. We won and everybody knows it,“ she went on.

”This is the truth and it is, my dear Venezuelans, the presidential election with the biggest victory margin in history. Congratulations, Edmundo!, she added while noting that the PUD had won all across Venezuela and pledging to undertake “actions to defend the truth” shortly.

In response, Saab noted that the official results would be available “in the next hours” on the CNE's website. He also downplayed “attempts of interference and reckless statements made by some few Latin American governments.”

The governments of Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, and Uruguay requested an urgent meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) to safeguard “the will of the people, framed in the Democratic Charter and the fundamental principles of democracy in our region.”