The Argentine government said Friday that Venezuela is “getting ever closer to regaining full democracy” and reiterated its desire that “the right to vote be respected” in Sunday’s elections.
Presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni expressed at his regular press conference at the Casa Rosada (headquarters of the Government) the Executive’s “unwavering commitment” to “electoral transparency, human rights and freedom of expression.”
“This Sunday, the eyes of the world will be on Venezuela,” he added.
Adorni also expressed the government’s discontent with a statement issued by the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo organization in support of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro ahead of the elections, in which they described President Javier Milei as a “fascist.”
The spokesman also expressed “astonishment and dismay” at the Venezuelan government’s decision to revoke the invitation for former Argentine President Alberto Fernández (2019-2023) to travel to the country to serve as an international observer in next Sunday’s elections.
According to Fernández’s own explanation, the Venezuelan Executive considered that some statements made by him on an Argentine radio station urging respect for the democratic process “caused discomfort and generated doubts” about his “impartiality” and that his coincidence with the statements of the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, “generated a kind of destabilization of the electoral process.”
Adorni’s statements on Friday follow an exchange of accusations between the governments of both countries in recent days.
Following statements by Maduro last Sunday calling Milei a “damned Nazi fascist,” the Argentine presidential spokesman responded on Tuesday that “dictator Maduro expelled millions of Venezuelans from his country, was denounced for persecution and detention of opponents, denounced for torture and, in addition, he closed Congress, so one should ask who is more similar to the Nazi regime (sic).”
Relations between Argentina and Venezuela – which were close during the mandates of Peronists Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007), Cristina Fernández (2007-2015) and Alberto Fernández – have worsened since last December, when the ultra-liberal politician, who has had serious and constant disagreements with Maduro, came to the Presidency.
Ten candidates will participate in the elections in Venezuela on Sunday, including the Chavista Maduro, who will seek re-election, and the former ambassador Edmundo González Urrutia, of the opposition Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), who leads the voting intention, according to traditional pollsters.
Buenos Aires / EFE
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2024-07-27 13:38:56
