Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro accused American businessman Elon Musk of investing at least $1 billion to attempt a coup in the South American country.
“Elon Musk invested in the coup d'état, the fascist outbreak, the violence against the electoral process in Venezuela for no less than 1 billion dollars,” Maduro said during his weekly program ‘Con Maduro+’.
“Together with [opposition leader] María Corina [Machado], money changed between their hands … the cowardly old man knew everything and fled the country,” added the dictator, in reference to newly elected President Edmundo González Urrutia seeking asylum in Spain.
🇻🇪Presidente Nicolás Maduro aseguró que Elon Musk invirtió no menos de unos mil millones de dólares para gestar un golpe de Estado en Venezuela: "Se repartieron a manos llenas la plata, la María Corina fascista formó los comanditos del terror, y el viejito cobarde huyó del país" pic.twitter.com/opDcHEA85n
— Data Viva (@data_viva) October 15, 2024
Maduro’s rant is the latest in a series of public accusations espoused by the communist dictator against Musk in the South American country.
Since the July 28 presidential elections, Musk has used his X account to denounce regime sponsored fraud while showing support for the opposition’s struggle inside and outside Venezuelan territory.
The social media platform owner’s comments sparked a heated exchange of personal insults with Maduro, who, in early August, suspended the social network in Venezuela.
The recent wave of tensions arose in the wake of massive protests that broke out in Venezuela.
Last Friday, the Maduro controlled Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), rejected a request for constitutional review of the ruling that validated Maduro’s widely disputed re-election.
However, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) maintains that González is the winner, based on “83.5% of the electoral records” collected by witnesses and polling station members on the day of the elections, all of which were published on a website page so that they could be seen on the World Wide Web.
