The Guatemalan government on Friday, August 2, expressed its rejection of the results of the Venezuelan presidential election, in which Nicolás Maduro was re-elected, because it believes that the popular will was not respected and because it believes that Hugo Chávez’s successor intends to remain in power forever.
Days earlier, the governments of Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay demanded a “complete review of the results” of the elections in Venezuela.
“Our governments will request an urgent meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) to issue a resolution that safeguards the popular will,” they added, after the Venezuelan National Electoral Council, controlled by Chavez, declared Maduro the winner of the presidential elections, amid allegations of fraud.
However, this Friday, Guatemala, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Minex), took an individual position, in which it rejects the election results in Venezuela, where this day the electoral authority ratified Maduro’s victory.
“Guatemala, as a nation committed to democratic principles and respect for human rights, and in light of the irregularities and public complaints about the electoral process in Venezuela, rejects the actions of the Nicolás Maduro regime to perpetuate itself in power,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
The document adds that Guatemala does not recognize the results of the Venezuelan presidential election of July 28, in which Nicolás Maduro was the winner, “because it did not have the corresponding guarantees and because it did not respect the popular will expressed by the Venezuelan people at the polls.”
“Guatemala reiterates its support for democracy and expresses its willingness to collaborate with the international community in the search for diplomatic solutions that guarantee respect for the will of the Venezuelan people and the strengthening of democracy in the region,” concludes the letter from Minex.
Results are confirmed
Venezuela’s electoral authority on Friday confirmed President Nicolas Maduro’s victory in the July 28 election, which the opposition denounces as fraudulent, on the eve of new demonstrations by the government and the opposition.
The latest bulletin from the National Electoral Council (CNE), read by its president Elvis Amoroso, gave Maduro 6.4 million votes (52%) compared to 5.3 million for the opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia (43%), representative of the disqualified opposition leader María Corina Machado.
The result seals the victory already announced on Sunday for a third six-year term for Maduro, although countries such as the United States, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Peru and Panama recognize González Urrutia as the winner, who claims victory.
Maduro, 61, who has been in power since 2013, called for what he called “the mother (…) of all marches to celebrate victory” on Saturday. “Let’s have a big mobilization and a big concert for peace.”
The opposition also called for mobilizations throughout the country.
“We have to keep moving forward to assert the truth. We have the evidence and the world already recognizes it,” Machado said in X, saying he had gone into hiding out of fear for his life.
Maduro denounced that the opposition “intends to carry out an attack” very close to the Caracas neighborhood where Machado called and ordered the “police (to) protect greater Caracas and these areas that are under threat.”
Statement on the elections in Venezuela.
🔗 pic.twitter.com/SSYUUEfps7— MINEX Guatemala 🇬🇹 (@MinexGt) August 2, 2024
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