Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro continued escalating his public feud with billionaire Elon Musk, now accusing "his power" of being behind a series of cyber attacks against the country's electoral body.
Maduro claims his government is unable to show the documentation supporting his victory in the presidential elections because of attacks against the National Electoral Council (CNE).
In a public statement, Maduro said he has decided to "create a special commission to evaluate, aided by Russia and China, the systems biosafety system, which is under attack."
"And, especially, the attack that severely damaged the CNE's communication system. The electoral body will inform the country, but we have already requested the aid because the attacks, I'm sure, are directed by Elon Musk's power," Maduro added.
Musk and Maduro have been engaging in a public feud ever since the former claimed the latter engaged in fraud to stay in power, a view espoused by a large part of the international community, the U.S. included.
The feud took a turn for the bizarre after Maduro addressed Musk's criticism for the first time, inviting him to fight. "Whoever messes with me, fails. Whoever messes with Venezuela, fails. You want to fight? Let's have it, Elon Musk. I am ready. I am the son of (Simón) Bolívar and (Hugo) Chávez," the president said.
Musk, known for his penchant for social media controversies, quickly picked the glove. In a series of posts, he said he accepted the challenge and taunted Maduro, replying in a post that he will "chicken out" from the fight.
He later responded to a poll about who would win in such an event, saying: "If I win, he resigns as dictator of Venezuela. If he wins, I give him a free ride to Mars." The poll, with 100,000 votes, has Musk as the hypothetical victor with over 80% of the votes.
Maduro reacted to Musk's replies on Wednesday evening, acknowledging the acceptance: "He accepted, let's have at it. If I win, I accept going to Mars, but you come with me."
The latest development came from Musk. He was replying to a publication on X, his social media platform, where Maduro could be seeing addressing a group of army members outside the presidential palace.
The publication Musk reacted to claimed that Maduro was giving direct orders to his security forces to "keep Elon Musk out at all costs." "The donkey dictator is delusional enough to think that Elon is going to personally show up and give him a thrashing. He is afraid. How are these goons going to stop space lasers?" adds the post.
Musk, on his end, said: "I'm coming for you Maduro. I will carry you to Gitmo on a donkey," a reference to the U.S. Guantanamo Bay prison. However, while Maduro has indeed addressed the mogul on several occasions, even saying "let's have at it" in a press conference after being told Musk expressed willingness to fight him, the video he was reacting to did not mention him.
Maduro was discussing the apprehension of protesters with security forces, with officials telling him many had been paid $50 to do so. "They are criminals, they have been trained in Texas, Colombia, Peru and Chile to come and stage attacks, commit arson. I am fighting, I am counting on you," Maduro told security forces while raising his fists.
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