Venezuela's president vows to tighten grip on power after disputed election result

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AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Venezuelan security forces have arrested more than 1,000 people since Sunday's contested elections. Electoral authorities say incumbent Nicolas Maduro won, but they have yet to provide proof of his victory. Maduro says the hundreds detained are vandals trying to destabilize his government. Opponents say the authoritarian leader is tightening his grip on power. NPR's Carrie Kahn reports.

CHANG: Venezuelan security forces have arrested more than 1,000 people since Sunday's contested elections. Electoral authorities say incumbent Nicolas Maduro won, but they have yet to provide proof of his victory. Maduro says the hundreds detained are vandals trying to destabilize his government. Opponents say the authoritarian leader is tightening his grip on power. NPR's Carrie Kahn reports.

CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: A large bus full of detainees pulls up to the national police detention facility in Miranda state, just outside of Caracas. Anxious family members who have been waiting outside for hours to see loved ones rush the bus.

JESSICA CAMACARO: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: Jessica Camacaro says it's unfair so many people have been arrested. She's looking for her husband, a diabetic, who she said was doing nothing more than taking videos of an arrest. Gabriel Gonzalez is looking for his 23-year-old nephew, who he says was leaving a protest and was picked up.

GABRIEL GONZALEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "He was at a demonstration but did nothing wrong," says Gonzalez.

ENDER OLIVEIRA: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: Ender Oliveira, looking for his two adult sons, says he hopes the police look into their hearts and just let us all live in peace. Venezuela's attorney general and human rights groups say hundreds have been detained. President Maduro says the arrestees are terrorists, vandals and even foreign-paid agents trying to overthrow his government.

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PRESIDENT NICOLAS MADURO: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "We are facing the most criminal and dirtiest conspiracy we have seen in a long time in Venezuela," says Maduro. Speaking for more than two hours to a gathering of foreign press, Maduro blamed opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia for fomenting violence.

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MADURO: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "This is your democratic project to bring change, Mr. Urrutia?" says Maduro. Maduro claims Gonzalez and the leading opposition figure, Maria Corina Machado, have blood on their hands and should be jailed. Machado and Gonzalez say they can prove they won. They gathered more than 80% of tally sheets printed on election night showing their victory. The electoral council, packed with Maduro loyalists, has refused to release those tally sheets and claims Maduro won with 51% of the vote. Jennie Lincoln of the Carter Center was invited to observe the election by Maduro's government.

JENNIE LINCOLN: This election does not meet standards and is - has - does not represent - so far, the way it is reported, does not represent the will of the people.

KAHN: Maduro has asked the Supreme Court to audit the results. Lincoln says the high court, loyal to Maduro, is not impartial. Voters like 47-year-old Corina Medina are angry.

CORINA MEDINA: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "I feel deceived, sad. We've been crying just thinking about our future," she tells me by phone. She's afraid to leave her home or have a reporter come for an interview. I met Medina election day at her polling place in a working-class Caracas neighborhood known for supporting the socialist government. She was thrilled then but now is planning to leave the country.

MEDINA: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "This month, we'll go. It's not like we don't want to stay and fight for our country," she says, "but these people aren't going to leave power." She's headed to Chile, where she has residency.

Leaving is on a lot of people's minds, including this man, who asked we use only his first name, Alejandro. He was an election poll worker for the opposition. We spoke in an upscale shopping center in Caracas.

ALEJANDRO: I have an office here. I have clients here. And I have properties here. And how do you leave all that behind and start over in another country? It's not easy.

KAHN: A quarter of Venezuela's population have left in the past decade. Recent polls show even more will leave if Maduro stays in power. Carrie Kahn, NPR News, Caracas.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.