The Copa Airlines flight with Panama’s former president Mireya Moscoso and other ex-presidents on board was not allowed to take off in Panama City because the airspace over Venezuela was blocked, according to President José Raúl Mulino.
Former presidents from Costa Rica, Miguel Angel Rodríguez, from Bolivia, Jorge Quiroga, and from Mexico, Vicente Fox, were also on board the plane. They are all strongly critical of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Maduro is running for re-election and wants another six years in power. The challenger Edmundo González excites supporters at his election campaign meetings, but the opposition doubts whether the election will be fair.
Venezuela has withdrawn an invitation to the European Union to send observers, and Argentina’s former president Alberto Fernández said on Wednesday that his invitation has also been withdrawn.
Earlier this week, Brazilian President Lula da Silva called on Maduro to respect the election results, and he said he was alarmed by threats from Maduro of a bloodbath after the election.
– I was frightened by what Maduro said about bloodbath in Venezuela if he loses. Maduro must learn that when you win, you stay, and when you lose, you leave, Lula said on Monday.
Maduro was last re-elected in 2018 in an election that the US and many others believe was heavily marred by fraud.
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2024-07-26 22:54:10
