Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Wednesday that there is “no evidence” of alleged electoral fraud in Venezuela, in which Nicolás Maduro won his third term, and questioned the Organization of American States (OAS) for its “interventionism.”
“We’re going to wait. I think that evidence and minutes must be presented, and I think that there should be minutes, even if they were carried out electronically. I think that in the procedure there are minutes, there are records to know what happened,” the president responded to a question from EFE during his morning press conference.
The Mexican leader denied that what the Venezuelan opposition is now denouncing is similar to the accusation of fraud he made during the Mexican elections of 2006, when he lost by a difference of 0.56% of the votes to the right-wing Felipe Calderón (2000-2006).
“I have no elements, that is, there is no evidence in the case of Venezuela. We did have a lot of evidence,” said López Obrador, who pointed out that “no foreign country” demanded “transparency” and accused the international correspondents of the time of being “in favor of fraud.”
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) released its only bulletin on Sunday night, when it awarded Maduro the victory with 51.2% of the votes, compared to 44.2% for the opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, supported by leader María Corina Machado, who is disqualified from running in the elections.
“I told Calderón that if he didn’t count the votes, he would be left with the impression that he was being dishonest and that when fraud is committed, this stain cannot be erased even with all the water in the oceans,” the president explained.
He added that, “since he had no legitimacy in the elections,” the PAN president (2006-2012) “wanted to legitimize himself by declaring war on drug trafficking,” a situation that the country “is still suffering from.”
“So, imagine the damage caused by electoral fraud, what is caused by wanting to impose and not respecting the will of the citizens,” he warned.
However, López Obrador called on the CNE to “give all the results” and make the voting records public and urged the opposition, “if they are not satisfied” with the final verdict, to go to the relevant judicial authorities.
“But we must not start confrontation and violence. This is not the case,” he said emphatically.
Mexico rejects OAS “interventionism”
He also said that Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena will not participate in the meeting convened by the OAS because she does not agree with the organization’s attitude towards the Venezuelan elections.
“Why are we going to a meeting like this? This is not serious, it is not responsible,” he stressed, and called for an end to “interventionism,” the cause of the “stagnation” of Venezuela’s problems.
Even the Carter Center, which participated as an observer in the Venezuelan elections, stated on Tuesday that the process “did not conform” to international parameters and standards of electoral integrity, and therefore “cannot be considered democratic.”
The Mexican president reiterated his position of “staying alert” to how the situation in Venezuela evolves and asked for “respect” from the CNE.
Mexico City / EFE
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2024-08-01 05:27:35
