Peru’s Government Declines to Acknowledge Edmundo González as Venezuela’s President-Elect

• Javier González-Olaechea, former Peruvian foreign minister, had offered statements in which he described the standard-bearer of the Democratic Unitary Platform as the winner of the presidential elections of July 28 | Photo: EFE

The President of the Council of Ministers of Peru, Gustavo Adrianzén, stated on Thursday, September 5, that the Andean country has not recognized Edmundo González Urrutia as the elected president of Venezuela, despite the fact that on July 30, the then Peruvian foreign minister, Javier González-Olaechea, stated that That was the Peruvian position.

(González) cannot be the president-elect. We have no official communication from the Peruvian State recognizing that condition for Mr. González. We have asked for a recount to be done (…) because we also understand that it has to be within the framework of the electoral process where those (voting) records have to be reviewed,” Adrianzén told the RPP radio station.

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On July 30, González-Olaechea, who was replaced on September 3, said that Peru recognized González as the president-elect of Venezuela following the July 28 elections in which the National Electoral Council (CNE) gave the victory to Nicolás Maduro.

Photo: EFE

“This position is shared by many countries, governments and international organisations,” he said at the time.

Asked how they view Maduro, he said that, “after the fraud committed” in the presidential elections, Peru considers him “as a person who wants to perpetuate himself in power through a dictatorship.”

Regarding Peru’s position, Adrianzén said that the Foreign Ministry has issued various official statements that “hope that the minutes will be delivered” and that “it is essential that these results be subject to a review.”

He avoided calling Venezuela a dictatorship and denied that diplomatic relations with that country, broken after the elections, would be reestablished, but admitted that there is work to be done to reestablish them.

Edmundo González, the candidate of the Democratic Unitary Platform, has been recognized as the winner of the July 28 presidential elections by the United States, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Panama and Costa Rica, contrary to the announcement by the CNE.

Peru maintains its position in defense of democracy in Venezuela

Elmer Schialer, Peru’s new foreign minister, said on September 4 that his country maintains a “firm position” in defense of democracy in Venezuela and will continue to support the Venezuelan people in their struggle to ensure that the popular will of the presidential elections on July 28 is respected.

In a press conference, the Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that “there is no change in Peru’s position regarding the situation in Venezuela,” after commenting on September 3 that the solution to the crisis in that country is in “the hands of the Venezuelans.”

Schialer wanted to clarify his remarks, made minutes after being sworn in to replace Javier González Olaechea, to avoid his statements to the press leading to “another interpretation.”

In this regard, the foreign minister reaffirmed that the government maintains “a firm position in defense of democracy in Venezuela,” which has been made clear in statements issued individually as a country, and jointly with other nations in the region.

Peru has demanded that the will of the Venezuelan people be respected” as expressed in the elections of July 28 and “we will continue to support the Venezuelan people in their struggle,” he said.

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EFE/ Henry Chirinos

Schialer added that they will “continue to demand full respect for the human rights of Venezuelans” following the political crisis in that nation caused by the proclamation of Nicolás Maduro as the winner of the elections, despite the opposition’s claims that its candidate Edmundo González received the highest number of votes.

The Foreign Minister reiterated that his country has strongly condemned the arrest warrant against Edmundo González and clarified that we must be “fully aware” that “any solution to this crisis must be genuinely Venezuelan.”

With information from EFE

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