International pressure mounted Wednesday on Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro to release voting records to back his contested election victory claim that has sent thousands onto the streets in protest, at the cost of a dozen lives so far.
The European Union, Spain and Colombia added their voices to growing calls for transparency three days after a vote the CNE electoral council gave to Maduro with 51 percent of ballots cast -- but without providing a detailed breakdown.
The opposition says its own tally of polling station-level results showed its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, a 74-year-old retired diplomat, had won by a wide margin.
On Monday, thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets shouting "Freedom, freedom!" and "This government is going to fall!"
They banged pots and pans -- a typical Latin American form of protest -- and some ripped Maduro campaign posters from street posts and burned them.
Security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets, and the Foro Penal human rights group said at least 11 civilians, two of them minors, were killed. Dozens more were injured and at least 177 arrested countrywide.
The military reported one death and 23 injuries among its ranks.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab said 749 "criminals" had been arrested at protests and faced charges of resisting authority or, "in the most serious cases, terrorism."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/pressure-mounts-venezuela-over-disputed-151529225.html