After apparent efforts to steal the election, the president sent forces to round people up in ‘Operation knock-knock’

Cristina Ramírez was readying her sofa bed in Buenos Aires for the arrival of her friend visiting from Venezuela when she received a text message suggesting Edni López could be delayed. Officials in Caracas airport had stopped her, apparently over an issue with her passport.

Four days later, López remains under the detention of the Venezuelan authorities and her family grows increasingly worried by the minute that the university professor could be caught up in a brutal crackdown on protests over Nicolás Maduro’s apparent efforts to steal the presidential election.

Edmundo González and María Corina Machado call on officials to ‘join the side of the people’ after Maduro enforces post-election crackdown

Venezuela’s opposition leaders, who are widely believed to have beaten Nicolás Maduro in last week’s disputed presidential election, have urged the police and armed forces to abandon the strongman leader and his “despicable interests”.

In an open letter to Venezuelan security forces, Edmundo González Urrutia and María Corina Machado claimed they had won an “avalanche” victory over Maduro in the 28 July vote – a conclusion supported by analyses of election data carried out by the Associated Press and the Washington Post and which a growing number of western governments have also reached.

Maduro told troops he is ‘willing to do anything’ to protect his ‘revolution’ amid growing criticism of crackdown on opposition

The Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro has vowed to “pulverise” the latest challenge to his rule and told troops he is “willing to do anything” to protect his “revolution” amid growing criticism of the crackdown that followed last week’s disputed election.

Maduro says more than 2,000 people have been arrested in the days since the 28 July vote while human rights groups say at least 22 people have been killed.

Tens of thousands gather in Caracas defying crackdown by president to hear speech by María Corina Machado

Huge crowds have gone back on to the streets of Venezuela’s cities to continue their campaign against President Nicolás Maduro’s alleged attempt to steal last week’s election and denounce his intensifying crackdown on opposition supporters.

Maduro said 2,000 people had been arrested and would face “maximum punishment”.