The US hopes that the Maduro authorities respects the candidacy of Edmundo González Urrutia

• Brian Nichols, consultant of the Joe Biden Administration, warned that he hopes that the presidential elections will likely be a “aggressive” course of with the presence of worldwide observers | Principal picture: EFE

The Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the US, Brian Nichols, mentioned on Thursday, June 27, that the Joe Biden Administration hopes that the candidacy of opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia for the presidential elections of July 28, 2024 in Venezuela will likely be maintained and revered.

“We’re watching the electoral course of with nice curiosity. We hope that the opposition candidate González Urrutia will likely be maintained and that there will likely be a aggressive electoral course of with the presence of electoral observers,” Nichols mentioned in a press convention from Paraguay.

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After attending the primary plenary session of the 54th Normal Meeting of the Group of American States (OAS), which is being held till June 28 within the Paraguayan metropolis of Luque, the undersecretary requested for the discharge of all political prisoners who’ve been detained in Venezuela going through the elections

Photograph: EFE

Uruguay urged compliance with the Barbados Settlement

For his half, the Minister of Overseas Affairs of Uruguay, Omar Paganini, mentioned on Thursday, June 27, that he hopes that the elections in Venezuela characterize a step in the direction of democratization and never a manipulation to help an “authoritarian regime.”

“We view with concern the upcoming electoral occasion on July 28, which hopefully will end in a technique of progress in the direction of democratization and never in manipulation from energy to merely legitimize an authoritarian regime,” mentioned the chancellor within the plenary session of the 54th Normal Meeting of the Group of American States (OAS) assembly in Paraguay.

Paganini mentioned he hoped that the Barbados Settlement, signed in October 2023 between the Venezuelan authorities and the opposition and which set the date of the elections, could be fulfilled with the intention to promote a “democratization course of.”

“Sadly, there was a shift away from what might be thought-about a clear and aggressive course of, with restrictions on candidates working, intimidation and political persecution of individuals,” he added.

Presidential elections in Venezuela

Venezuela will maintain presidential elections on July 28, during which President Nicolás Maduro will compete for a 3rd consecutive time period.

González, a 74-year-old diplomat, is the candidate for the Unitary Platform – the bulk anti-Chavez bloc – after the disqualification of chief María Corina Machado, who swept the opposition primaries held final October.

In latest months, quite a few authorities critics have been imprisoned, together with a number of members of Machado’s marketing campaign group.

Photograph: EFE

Scenario in Nicaragua

Then again, Paganini referred to Nicaragua and indicated that “everybody” acknowledges that nation as “an authoritarian regime, which persecutes dissidents and doesn’t respect the rule of legislation.”

On today, the OAS Normal Meeting authorised by consensus a decision on the “steady deterioration of the human rights state of affairs in Nicaragua since 2018.” Nonetheless, the doc has not been made public.

With info from EFE

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