These Venezuelan election observers received death threats. Now they are in hiding.

Anthony is in hiding in this Colombian city on the border with Venezuela. He says he was targeted by paramilitary groups called “colectivos,” key enforcers of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, after he volunteered as an election observer for the opposition party. He fled here to Cúcuta, along with these other election workers, who all describe receiving similar threats. We have agreed not to show their faces or use their full names for their safety and that of the families they left behind. All their stories provide firsthand evidence of the post-election crackdown that has taken place largely out of the public eye. These voting figures that they and other observers collected were made public, showing that opposition candidate Edmundo González had actually won the majority of the votes. While many countries, including the United States, have expressed doubts about the election results, Maduro continues to claim victory. He and his supporters are now targeting the opposition as terrorists, with threats in the form of phone messages and showing up at their homes. Anthony worked as a bread maker in Venezuela. The others, a chef, a salesman and an engineer. The Times reviewed evidence that corroborated their stories that they were targeted as election observers. All the men previously targeted for their political activism say the threats felt bolder and more direct after this election. Celso Barbosa himself fled Venezuela six years ago. He says these men were the first group of political exiles he helped escape the country after the July elections. Barbosa recently attended a protest here in Colombia calling for Maduro’s resignation. Meanwhile, Maduro has not yet released his election record, and González has now fled the country for Spain after a high court in Venezuela issued his arrest warrant. These men say that if Maduro is sworn in as president in January, others will soon be forced to flee the country as well.