CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelans around the world, some carrying flags and other patriotic paraphernalia, heeded a call from their country’s political opposition and took to the streets Saturday to defend the faction’s claim to victory over President Nicolás Maduro in last month’s disputed presidential election.

The demonstrations in Tokyo, Sydney, Mexico City and several other cities were an attempt by the main opposition coalition to make visible what they believe to be the true electoral result. They also called on governments to support candidate Edmundo González and to support Venezuelans who fear speaking out in their homeland amid a brutal campaign of repression against Maduro and his allies.

As thousands of Venezuelans waved the national flag, opposition leader María Corina Machado rode a truck through the streets of Caracas, shouting “courage” and “freedom.” She then told a crowd that this was the moment “when every voice is respected.”

“The world and everyone in Venezuela should recognize that the elected president is Edmundo González,” she said to the applause of thousands of cheering supporters.

Previously, opposition candidate González had written on his account X: “They will not be able to cover up the reality of July 28: we have won an overwhelming victory.” He did not appear at the demonstration in Caracas.

At the Revolution Monument in downtown Mexico City, hundreds of people, young and old, loudly repeated the slogans of “Freedom! Freedom!” that dominated opposition rallies before the election. “Maduro out! Maduro out!” they shouted as passing motorists honked their horns.

“What is happening is that Venezuela has woken up… so much so that the government does not dare to present the ballots,” said Antonia Imbernon, referring to the election results documents that are considered the ultimate proof of the results. “What are they afraid of?”

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, whose members are loyal to the ruling party, declared Maduro the winner of the July 28 election hours after polls closed. Unlike in previous presidential elections, the electoral body has not released detailed vote count data to support its claim that Maduro received 6.4 million votes while González, representing the opposition Unity Platform coalition, received 5.3 million votes.

But González and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado shocked Venezuelans when they announced that after polls closed, they had received more than 80 percent of the ballots cast by all electronic voting machines. The documents, they said, showed González with a large lead and had been uploaded to a website where anyone could view them.

Machado urged his supporters to print ballots from their polling station and take them to Saturday’s demonstrations. In Mexico City, some of them held signs criticizing the Mexican government’s decision not to attend an Organization of American States hearing on Friday focused on the electoral crisis in Venezuela.

“Mexico, we missed you at the OEA,” read a sign with the Spanish acronym for the regional organization.

The opposition has repeatedly stressed that it needs the help of the international community to persuade Maduro to accept the election result that is unfavorable to him.

“This time the mockery is even greater because there is evidence; everyone can see it,” said Janett Hurtado, 57, who left Venezuela two years ago, referring to the ballots. “(The government) has once again deprived us of other elections.”

Hurtado said she noticed that Venezuelans were afraid to speak out against Maduro after the South American country saw numerous arrests in connection with protests sparked by the election result. She said she has friends who have not sent her a single text message since then.

Security forces have arrested more than 2,000 people for demonstrating against Maduro or raising doubts about his claim that he won a third term, even though there is strong evidence that he lost the election by a margin of more than 2-1. Another 24 have been killed, according to Venezuela-based human rights group Provea.

The wave of arrests instigated by Maduro himself is unprecedented and will result in Venezuela easily surpassing the number of detainees arrested in the three previous crackdowns on Maduro’s opponents.

Those arrested include journalists, politicians, campaign staff and a lawyer defending protesters. Others have had their Venezuelan passports revoked as they tried to leave the country. One local activist even broadcast live her arrest by military intelligence agents as they broke into her home with a crowbar.

“It pains us to see what is happening,” said Hurtado’s daughter Veronica Guedez, 19. “We are here to support each other as brothers and sisters.”

The opposition suffered a setback on Thursday when Brazil and Colombia – countries that had pressured Maduro to publish vote totals backing up his claim of victory – proposed a rerun of the election instead. But Machado categorically rejected any plan to rerun the election, saying it would be “an insult” to the people.

Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City.