A member of Venezuela's electoral council admitted in an interview published today that he has seen no evidence that Nicolas Maduro won the country's election as he claims.

Since the July 28 vote, governments around the world have expressed skepticism, and even outright disbelief, over President Nicolás Maduro’s claim to victory. But the statement by Juan Carlos Delpino — an opposition-member of the government body that announced Mr. Maduro’s win — represents the first major criticism from inside the electoral system.

Speaking on the record to a reporter for the first time since the vote, Mr. Delpino said he “had not received any evidence” that Mr. Maduro actually won a majority of the vote.

Neither the electoral body nor Mr. Maduro has released tallies to support assertions that the president won re-election, while the opposition has published receipts from thousands of voting machines that show its candidate, Edmundo González, won an overwhelming majority.

The sad part of this story is that it probably doesn't matter. Maduro is bullying his way back into office through a combination of lies and threats. Hundreds of people have been visited by his security forces in something he has dubbed "Operation Knock Knock."

Nicolás Maduro has baptised his political crackdown Operación Tun Tun (Operation Knock Knock) after the spine-chilling visits his security forces pay their targets. But when members of Venezuela’s secret police came for Aixa Daniela Boada López, they announced their arrival with a thump not a tap.

“It was about half past midnight when we heard this loud bang on the roof,” said one witness to her detention in the industrial complex of Ciudad Guayana early on 1 August.

Black-clad agents from the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service, Sebin, were seen smashing their way inside. They carried guns and a picture of the 19-year-old law student they had come to arrest. López was bundled into a vehicle as panicked relatives looked on.

“Neighbours came out to try and protect her but they pointed their weapons at them and took the girl,” said the witness, asking to remain anonymous for fear of suffering a similar fate.

As many as 1,600 people are said to be in jail as part of this crackdown. Dozens of them are teenage children being held with no communication with their parents.

Officers pointed rifles at a 40-year-old woman and her 5-year-old son, she told The Washington Post. They pushed her 15-year-old against the wall, handcuffed him and slapped his face until he revealed the name of a friend. Then they dragged him into a van.

The boy later told his mother that the officers beat him, putting his face on the floor and kicking him, she said. He told her he was hit in the chest, ribs and arms...

The boy is one of at least 120 minors to have been imprisoned by the security forces of President Nicolás Maduro since the autocratic socialist claimed reelection last month, according to multiple human rights organizations.

This particular 15-year-old was released 20 days later. The situation is so bad that hundreds of people who helped the opposition gather the actual vote totals are fleeing the country for their own safety.

CNN spoke to about half a dozen Venezuelans who have fled their country in the past month, some swapping clothes or hiding between bushes on their way to safety. Many migrated illegally, moving at night, and hiding during the day to avoid being stopped at dozens of checkpoints set up by Venezuelan government forces. Others said they were waved past by officers they believed to be sympathetic to the opposition’s cause. Most asked for their interviews to remain anonymous fearing government forces could go after their loved ones if they realized they had left the country.

“I left my mom, she’s 84… my husband did the same. My mom told me: ‘Be strong my love, everything will be alright; joy will come back to Venezuela, I’ll be here waiting for you. If I’m not here anymore by the time you come, I’ll know at least you are a free person,’” said one woman, who fled the country with her husband and son.

Her transgression in Venezuela? Helping to gather over 1,200 “actas” – the printed voting machine receipts that have become critical to the opposition’s case that the election was stolen by Maduro – the strongman leader who has ruled the country with an iron fist since the death of Hugo Chavez in 2013.

The voting machine totals are supposed to be released by the government to verify a win, but they have not been for obvious reasons. Instead, they were gathered by the opposition and released to the media both there and abroad. The Washington Post and others have looked at the totals and verified that, given the roughly 80% of the votes for which we have records, this was a blowout by the opposition. Since Maduro can't counter those facts, he is punishing everyone who embarrassed him with Operation Knock Knock.

The only way this changes is if more people inside the Maduro regime come forward, but that's not likely because they'd be risking their lives or at least their freedom to say anything at this point.