Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has issued a decree, blocking the country’s access to the social media platform X for 10 days. The move comes after Maduro and X owner Elon Musk exchanged words after Maduro was declared the winner of Venezuela’s controversial election in July.
Maduro’s opposition, Edmundo Gonzalez’s team, said it has evidence that Gonzalez won the election and by a wide margin. According to representatives for Gonzalez, they have copies of voting tallies showing Gonzalez’s victory with more than 7 million votes compared to Maduro’s 3.3 million.
However, the country’s electoral body declared Maduro the winner with approximately 51% of the vote. The electoral body did not provide proof of voting tallies.
On X, Musk called Maduro a “dictator,” a “clown” and a “donkey,” and then said the donkey didn’t deserve to be compared to Maduro.
“The people of Venezuela have had enough of this clown,” Musk wrote in response to a video of Venezuelans taking down billboards of Maduro. “It is time for the people of Venezuela to have the chance for a better future,”
Musk also alleged there must’ve been “major election fraud by Maduro.”
Maduro accused Musk of spreading “hate” on X and staging a “cyber coup” against his reelection campaign. Maduro said Musk was to blame for protests and unrest that flared up in Venezuela after the contested election, with Venezuelans demanding Maduro step down.
The Venezuelan Observatory for Social Conflict confirmed nearly two dozen people have been killed in the protests.
Musk and Maduro even agreed to physically fight each other, according to The New York Times.
On Thursday night, Maduro spoke to Venezuelans on state television, saying X would be “withdrawn from circulation” because “Elon Musk is the owner of X and has violated all the rules.”
As the election results are questioned, the international community is becoming increasingly vocal in demanding transparency and accountability from Maduro’s government.
Countries including the United States, Argentina and Chile have refused to recognize Maduro as the winner of the election.
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