After four days of Washington demanding the publication of the official records that, according to the ruling party, attribute the victory to Nicolás Maduro, Secretary of State Antony Blinken went a step further. In a statement, he declared that “overwhelming evidence” shows that Edmundo González Urrutia “obtained the majority of the votes.”
In his statement, Blinken said that “Given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States and, more importantly, to the Venezuelan people, that Edmundo González Urrutia won the majority of the votes in the July 28 presidential election.”These are the harshest statements made by Washington so far regarding the Venezuelan elections, which have been heavily criticised by various countries, NGOs and international organisations due to the lack of transparency in the dissemination of their results.
The National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner on Sunday, but the failure to publish the official minutes of the elections sparked all kinds of criticism and suspicions about an electoral process that neither the European Union nor the OAS were able to supervise.
The Carter Center, which was able to send 17 observers, concluded that Sunday’s elections “cannot be considered democraticThis opacity has sparked serious protests in the country since Monday.
The opposition claims that it has at least 84% of the voting records in its hands and that these documents award the victory to González.
These minutes, Blinken says, show that the opposition representative’s advantage is “insurmountable.”We congratulate Edmundo González for his successful campaign“, it states in its statement.The time has come for the parties to begin talks on a peaceful and respectful transition in accordance with Venezuela’s electoral law and the will of the Venezuelan people.”.
The statement by the US Secretary of State comes a day after the Organization of American States dedicated a special session to addressing the situation in Venezuela and hours after Maduro made public a memorandum of understanding of the negotiation that the United States and Venezuela rehearsed in Qatar last year. There, the Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, Brian Nichols, said that there is “irrefutable evidence” that shows that the opposition representative won by millions of votes. Not recognizing González as the fair winner of the elections ““It only allows Maduro and his representatives to attempt colossal fraud and ignore the rule of law and democratic principles.”.
In his statement, Blinken also condemned threats of arrest in Venezuela against opposition leaders, including María Corina Machado. The opposition leader, accused by Maduro of being a “criminal” and “fascist,” said in a column published in the Wall Street Journal that she has had to go into hiding and fears for her life: “I write this from hiding, fearing for my life, my freedom and that of my fellow countrymen in the dictatorship led by Maduro.”Both she and Gonzalez last appeared in public on Tuesday, at a mass demonstration with their supporters. They have not been seen since.
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2024-09-02 05:33:13
