Venezuelans rally to support opposition after disputed vote

Thousands of Venezuelans gathered Tuesday in a peaceful show of opposition support a day after 11 people died and dozens were injured in protests against President Nicolas Maduro's disputed presidential election victory.

"Freedom! Freedom!" and "We are not afraid!" they chanted at a mass rally in the capital Caracas, where opposition leaders insisted they had the numbers for a convincing victory.

As international calls mounted for the regime-aligned National Electoral Council (CNE) to release a detailed vote breakdown to back its awarding of Sunday's election to Maduro, the president responded with threats.

The opposition, he said, would be held responsible for "criminal violence... the wounded, the dead, the destruction" associated with protests.

The Foro Penal human rights NGO, however, said at least 11 people — two of them minors — have died in what its head Alfredo Romero described as "a crisis of human rights."

Dozens more were injured, and at least 177 arrested, he said.

Security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets Monday at protesters who claimed the election was stolen, flooding the streets with chants of "this government is going to fall!"

The opposition rejects the authorities' assertion that Maduro won the presidential contest with 51 percent of votes compared to 44 percent for Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia.

Maduro, 61, has been at the helm of the once-wealthy oil-rich country since 2013, presiding over a GDP drop of 80 percent that pushed more than seven million of Venezuela's 30 million citizens to emigrate.

He is accused of locking up critics and harassing the opposition in a climate of rising authoritarianism.

The US-based Carter Center, whose monitors observed the presidential...