On July 31, local time, Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted on his social media "X" in response to Venezuelan President Maduro's "declaration of war" on him on a TV show on the 29th. Musk said he "accepted the challenge" and said in a subsequent tweet, "If I win, he will resign as Venezuela's 'dictator'; if he wins, I will send him to Mars for free."
According to reports from Fox News, the Associated Press, the New York Post, etc., the Venezuelan election ended on the afternoon of July 28, local time. Current President Maduro declared victory in the election, while opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez also believed that he had won.
In the results subsequently announced by the Venezuelan National Electoral Commission, the current President Maduro received 51% of the votes, while the opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez received 44% of the votes. The current President Maduro successfully won re-election as president.
However, the Venezuelan opposition did not recognize this result. They immediately launched large-scale protests in Venezuela, claiming that the Maduro government "cheated in the election." The Carter Center, which was stationed by the United States to supervise the election, also echoed, claiming that the election "completely lacked transparency" and "seriously violated electoral principles."
Musk also posted an accusation on his X account, saying that there was "major electoral fraud" by Venezuela's current President Maduro, and provoked Maduro in his second tweet, "The world is waiting for you to admit defeat after years of suffering, decadence and death."
Musk's post quickly attracted the attention of Maduro himself. On July 29, local time, Maduro issued a "declaration of war" to Musk in a program on Venezuelan national television. In the TV show, Maduro said Musk wanted to invade Venezuela with his space rockets.
Then he raised his phone and said, "Social media created virtual reality, and who controls virtual reality? Our new number one enemy, the famous Elon Musk." He shouted to Musk from a distance, "Do you want to fight? Let's start, I'm ready. I'm the son of Bolivar and Chavez, I'm not afraid of you, let's fight, wherever you want."
On July 30, local time, Musk retweeted the video on social media and mocked it with a Spanish text, saying that "donkeys know more than Maduro." He also posted a message on the afternoon of July 31, accepting Maduro's challenge and saying that Maduro "will back down."
This is not the first time that Musk has provoked public figures on social media. Previously, the billionaire has been claiming on social media that he can "beat" Facebook boss Zuckerberg. According to the New York Post, the two even planned a charity Octagon match. However, Musk posted in August last year that he needed surgery to repair a "back injury he suffered while fighting a sumo wrestler eight years ago," and the match came to nothing.
Likewise, this is not the first time Venezuelan President Maduro has faced accusations and provocations from domestic opposition and foreign countries. Maduro took over as President of Venezuela after the death of President Hugo Chavez in 2013. In previous re-election elections, Maduro had been criticized many times by domestic opposition and foreign countries, and he chose to respond strongly to these voices.
In his victory speech on the 29th, he mocked the opposition, saying that the opposition "crys out fraud" in every election, and said that his re-election would bring peace and stability to Venezuela.
The domestic opposition launched a large-scale demonstration after Maduro announced his victory. The United States also gathered a group of American countries to condemn the current government's election fraud. In response, Maduro held a press conference with the international media in Caracas on July 31. At the meeting, he said: "I do not want to use other methods to carry out revolution. We hope to continue to follow the path of Chavez." "If North American imperialists and fascist criminals force us, I will call on the people to carry out a new revolution."