President Nicolás Maduro lashed out at Venezuelan singer and influencer Lele Pons in a video posted on his Instagram and TikTok accounts, amid the tension generated by the recent Venezuelan presidential elections in which he declared himself the winner. The video was released after the massive opposition march on Saturday (Aug. 17), which brought together thousands of people in Caracas and other cities worldwide, including Tokyo, Mexico City and Miami.
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“Eleonora ‘Lele’ Pons wants to impose a government in #Venezuela through a concert in Miami, but who said she is a politician? Lele Pons is not the #CNE! Do not underestimate Venezuela, you do not know the spiritual power of this #People!” reads the description of Maduro’s TikTok video.
“Who said that Lele Pons and the artists that she is calling, just like the concert in Cúcuta, should determine the life of an entire country?” the Chavismo leader said. “So they think that because some artists were going to sing, the next day they would invade Venezuela. Be careful with manipulations, be careful. And you can conspire from Miami, but in Venezuela, the Venezuelans rule. As we did with the artists at the concert in Cúcuta, so will the people of Venezuela, today even more strongly.”
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Shortly after, Pons reacted in a video on her TikTok account captioned, “You will not silence me! VENEZUELA WON 🇻🇪❤️.” The artist also shared some images on Instagram of her participation in the march, during which she carried the flag of her native country, accompanied by Venezuelan artists Danny Ocean, Elena Rose, Marko and Joaquina, among others.
Pons is the Venezuelan influencer and singer with the most followers on social media, with more than 53.4 million followers on Instagram alone and 32.5 million on TikTok. She has been vocal about the irregularities in Venezuela’s elections, where the opposition claims to have evidence that its candidate, Edmundo González, obtained the majority of the votes.
On Aug. 9, she did an Instagram Live with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, during which the politician answered questions from her followers and announced Saturday’s massive event aimed at the international community.
See Lele Pons’ TikTok below: