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Venezuela

Protests Spread In Caracas Over Venezuelan Election Result

CLARIN (Argentina); EL NACIONAL (Venezuela); AP

Worldcrunch

CARACAS - Protests in the Venezuelan capital have turned violent in the wake of presidential electoral results, which gave Nicolas Maduro a slim majority but prompted opposition calls for a recount.

After Sunday night's official declaration of Maduro as winner with 50.7% of the vote, opposition candidate Henrique Capriles called on the National Electoral Council (CNE) to conduct a full nationwide recount, citing irregularities at the polls. Earlier, Capriles, who had lost to Hugo Chavez last year, had urged his supporters to protest peacefully in the event of a victory by Maduro, the handpicked successor of Chavez, who died on March 5 after a long battle with cancer.

Pro-Capriles student protests Monday afternoon began peacefully, but later turned violent as they threw stones and concrete slabs at police, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, writes Clarin.

via Facebook

via Facebook

Pro-government Venezuelan daily El Nacional reported that Maduro charged the opposition with failing to recognize democratic institutions, and warned that Capriles might be organizing a coup.

President of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, wrote on his Twitter page that the Assembly will be investigating Capriles, blaming him for the violence that began after the elections. “Capriles is a fascist. I’ll personally ensure that he will pay for the damage to our country and our people."

Capriles fascista, me encargaré personalmente que pagues por todo el daño que le estás haciendo a nuestra Patria y a nuestro Pueblo

— Diosdado Cabello R (@dcabellor) April 16, 2013

Clarin reports that more protests began at 8 pm local time on Monday, at the same time that Maduro was speaking at a press conference, coming just hours after the CNE declared him as president elect.

The cacerolazo protest consisted of people banging pots and pans to show how loud their discontent truly was, says the AP.

@dansemprun

@fensita

@kamvenezuela79

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

That Man In Mariupol: Is Putin Using A Body Double To Avoid Public Appearances?

Putin really is meeting with Xi in Moscow — we know that. But there are credible experts saying that the person who showed up in Mariupol the day before was someone else — the latest report that the Russian president uses a doppelganger for meetings and appearances.

screen grab of Putin in a dark down jacket

During the visit to Mariupol, the Presidential office only released screen grabs of a video

Russian President Press Office/TASS via ZUMA
Anna Akage

Have no doubt, the Vladimir Putin we’re seeing alongside Xi Jinping this week is the real Vladimir Putin. But it’s a question that is being asked after a range of credible experts have accused the Russian president of sending a body double for a high-profile visit this past weekend in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

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Reports and conspiracy theories have circulated in the past about the Russian leader using a stand-in because of health or security issues. But the reaction to the Kremlin leader's trip to Mariupol is the first time that multiple credible sources — including those who’ve spent time with him in the past — have cast doubt on the identity of the man who showed up in the southeastern Ukrainian city that Russia took over last spring after a months-long siege.

Russian opposition politician Gennady Gudkov is among those who confidently claim that a Putin look-alike, or rather one of his look-alikes, was in the Ukrainian city.

"Now that there is a war going on, I don't rule out the possibility that someone strongly resembling or disguised as Putin is playing his role," Gudkov said.

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