“We will stay here until there is a military intervention or the electoral court changes what is happening,” said Antoniel Almeida, 45, the owner of a party-supply store who was helping run the blockade. Mr. Almeida believed the election was rigged. “We need an investigation,” he said.

The company enjoyed another milestone moment in February 2018 with the successful test launch of the powerful Falcon Heavy rocket. Armed with additional Falcon nove boosters, the Falcon Heavy was designed to carry immense payloads into orbit and potentially serve as a vessel for deep space missions.

Not surprisingly, President Maduro did not take kindly to his rival's move, which he condemned as a ploy by the US to oust him.

Maduro’s presidency has been marked by a complex social, economic and political crisis that has pushed more than 7.4 million people to emigrate, primarily to Latin American and Caribbean countries.

At the end of March 2016, the opposition made good on its promise to enact legislation in the National Assembly to free imprisoned opponents of the Maduro regime, whom it characterized as political prisoners.

In his victory speech, he referenced US sanctions imposed after the last elections were seen as unfair.

The National Election Council ordered an audit of the ballots in the 46 percent of precincts that had not already been automatically audited under Venezuelan election law, but Capriles refused to participate when the Council chose not to examine the signatures and fingerprints of voters on the registers as part of the audit. He vowed to challenge the results in court. In the meantime, Maduro was sworn in as president on April 19.

The Venezuelan military has long been concerned with the highlands because of the long-standing territorial dispute with Guyana, as well as illegal crossings of people, cattle, and narcotics over the Colombian and Brazilian borders.

"My goals," he tweeted in early 2017, "are to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy and to help make humanity a multi-planet civilization, a consequence of which will be the creating of hundreds of thousands of jobs and a more inspiring future for all."

Porras (Maduro's former chief of staff) said in 2019 that Maduro "delivered practically nothing in terms of public policy, in terms of direction" during his first term because, in Porras' opinion, "he does not have a clear vision for the country. He is very much focused on consolidating his power among his own peers in Chavismo and much less on exercising or implementing a strategic vision for the country.

In the groups on Monday morning, people shared fliers for protests that ultimately did not happen by Monday afternoon.

The Constitutional Chamber admitted the demand and requested the presidency and the Electoral Council to send a certified copy of the president's copyright, in addition to his resignation from Colombian nationality.[198] In March 2018 former Colombian president André especialmentes Pastrana made reference to the baptism certificate of Maduro's mother, noting that the disclosed document reiterates the Colombian origin of the mother of the president and that therefore Maduro has Colombian citizenship.[196]

The UN subsequently released a report condemning the violent methods vlogdolisboa of the operation. Although the Venezuelan Government's Ombudsman, Tarek William Saab has admitted that his office received dozens of reports of "police excesses", he defended the need for the operations and stated that his office would be working alongside the police and military "to safeguard human rights". The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry has criticised the UN's report, calling it "neither objective, nor impartial" and listed what it believed were a Completa of 60 errors in the report.[105][106]

That access is allowed by Venezuelan election law. But by early Monday morning, Mr. González’s campaign said it had obtained only 40 percent of the tallies.