Venezuelans gather in San Francisco to protest contested election results

Dozens of Venezuelans in San Francisco protested on Sunday rejecting what many characterized as “fraud” in Venezuela's presidential election They join alongside an international call for demonstrations.

Last week’s election caused widespread controversy after the South American current, longtime strongman Nicolas Maduro claimed he won the election despite there being evidence showing otherwise.

The group that gathered at the city's Ferry Building said they are there supporting the “legitimate” president-elect Edmundo González Urrutia.

"Everybody wants Maduro out of the government because he is not good for the people,” said Edgar Mota, one of the protesters.

Protesters waved the Venezuelan flag and adored their national colors of red, blue and yellow. Many raised their voices singing Venezuela’s national anthem.

Handmade signs asked for Maduro’s “criminal regime” to step down and in unison protesters of all ages chanted “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!”

“We do want change, but in a special way. And that's why we want, and why we need the international community to recognize Edmundo González’s win,” Mota said.

Following the disputed poll results, Maduro’s government has arrested hundreds of opposition supporters who took to the streets mere days after.

The government has also threatened to arrest opposition leader María Corina Machado and her hand-picked presidential candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia.

According to the Associated Press, González received 6.89 million votes, which is half a million more than what the government said Maduro won. Tabulations showed Maduro received 3.13 million votes per the AP.

To get those results the AP proceeded close to 24,000 images of tally sheet, which represent results from 79% of the nation’s voting machines. Each tally sheet, or in Spanish known as actas, contained an encoded QR code. The AP decoded and analyzed the sheets leading to a tabulation of 10.62 million votes.

However, the National Electoral Council in Venezuela said on Friday that based on close to 97% of tally sheets Maduro had garnered 6.4 million votes (51%), while González received 5.3 million (46%).

This comes after the country’s high court, known as the Supreme Justice Tribunal, ordered the Maduro-controlled NEC to provide vote count sheets within three days. In previous elections, the government has released precinct-level tallies.

NEC President Elvis Amoroso said the agency had dealt with an attack on “technological infrastructure” which caused the delay in filing complete results.

San Francisco’s demonstration also comes the same day that Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado joined thousands of protesters in Caracas.

“After six days of brutal repression, they thought they were going to silence us, intimidate or paralyze us,” she told opposition supporters. “The presence of every one of you here today represents the best of Venezuela."

Machado, who's been in hiding since Tuesday, was barred by Maduro's government from running for office for 15 years.

On Friday, masked assailants ransacked the opposition’s headquarters vandalizing the space.

According to the Human Rights Watch, at least 20 people have been killed in post-election protests. And the government reported that close to 1,200 people were arrested in connection with the demonstrations.

The Organization of American States called the country’s election results unreliable and urged for people to peacefully protest.

“Today we urge that there not be one more political prisoner, nor one more tortured person, nor one more disappeared person, nor one more murdered person," said the OAS

The Biden administration joined other governments, like Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, among others, in recognizing González as the electoral winner. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken cited the move comes after looking at “overwhelming evidence."

Russia, China and Cuba have recognized Maduro as the winner and congratulated him.