The United States on Monday denied offering amnesty to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to leave power after the electoral authority declared his re-election in the July 28 elections, results questioned by the opposition and part of the international community.
State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel denied in a press conference to The Wall Street Journal, which reported that the Joe Biden administration had offered an amnesty to persuade Maduro to leave before his term ends in January.
“That’s not true. We have not made any offer of amnesty to Maduro or anyone else after the election,” Patel said when asked about the matter.
The spokesman said, however, that the United States “is considering a wide range of options to pressure Maduro to return Venezuela to the path of democracy” and claimed that it is time for Chavismo and the opposition “to begin talks for a peaceful transition.”
The Wall Street Journal cited three anonymous sources as saying that the United States has offered pardons to Maduro and senior Chavista officials facing charges from the Justice Department in an effort to persuade them to leave power.
The newspaper reported that in 2020 the United States offered a $15 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Maduro, accused of drug trafficking with his allies.
Maduro himself said last Friday that the United States is willing to give him “whatever it takes” to get him to leave power, but he demanded that Washington leave Venezuela “alone.”
Maduro’s victory in the July 28 elections was declared by the National Electoral Council (CNE) without publishing the voting records, and the Joe Biden administration considers that the winner was the opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, according to the records obtained by the majority opposition bloc.
Washington is also supporting mediation efforts by Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, which have relations with Maduro, to try to verify the election results.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday denied at another press conference that Washington had launched an offer of amnesty following the Venezuelan elections and stressed that Maduro should recognize the results.
“Two weeks have passed since the elections. It is very clear to the majority of the Venezuelan people, the United States and a growing number of countries that Edmundo obtained the most votes (…) and Maduro must recognize this,” he said.
The United States, according to Jean-Pierre, says and will continue to say that “more than 80% of the records published by civil society and the opposition are corroborated by independent observers,” he said, stressing that this is why they think “Maduro should acknowledge this.”
Washington / EFE
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2024-08-15 15:10:03
