Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, and Uruguay have joined the USA and Peru in recognizing opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as the winner of last week's presidential election.
At the same time, the internationally criticized and regime-loyal electoral authority ratified Nicolás Maduro as the winner of the election. According to the authority, Maduro won with 52 percent of the votes.
However, the electoral authority has not presented all the protocols from the vote count.
According to the opposition, protocols collected directly from over 80 percent of the polling stations show that González Urrutia won the election with a significant majority.
Maduro said on Wednesday that he was ready to present the protocols, but at the same time threatened to imprison the opposition due to the widespread protests that broke out after the election.
Venezuela's opposition leader María Corina Machado, who was barred from running in the election, has stated that she is in hiding and fears for her life after the regime's threats to arrest her.
Early on Friday morning, Machado's headquarters were raided by masked individuals who broke down doors and took away important documents, according to her party's social media.
At a press conference from the presidential palace, Maduro condemned what he called a "coup led by the USA, the international extreme right, and unbridled capitalism".
Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico urged Caracas on Thursday to release detailed voting data, a demand that has also come from, among others, the EU and G7 countries.
