The U.S. government announced this Wednesday that it recognizes the opposition candidate from Venezuela, Edmundo González Urrutia, as the winner of the presidential elections.
Brian Nichols, the U.S. Deputy Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, stated at the extraordinary meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) that there is irrefutable evidence showing that Edmundo González defeated Nicolás Maduro by millions of votes, although the electoral authority has not yet released the election results.
"The National Electoral Council (CNE), controlled by Maduro, declared him the winner of the elections without publishing any detailed data or recounts at the polling station level. The partial results announced by the CNE, showing 80 percent (of the vote) were in contrast to the polls conducted before the elections, at the close, and the numerous recounts carried out by experts and observers," Nichols stated.
During her speech, she criticized that after days of requests for the publication of results by polling station, the government has failed to present such data or any evidence, despite their promise to do so, while the legal deadline for this has already passed according to Venezuelan law.
"The answer seems very clear: either they know the results show that González is the winner and do not want to present them, or they know that González won and Maduro needs to prepare false documents to support his claim," noted the U.S. official.
Nichols also stated that Venezuelans already know that these elections do not meet international standards for electoral integrity and cannot be considered democratic, so the announcement from the CNE has no value.
"Maduro and his representatives must acknowledge Edmundo as the winner of the presidential elections, and the world must also recognize González's electoral victory. Those who fail to do so will be enabling Maduro's massive attempt at fraud and his disregard for the rule of law and democratic principles," he concluded.
"Patience is running out," says a spokesperson for the White House
The White House National Security spokesperson, John Kirby, stated during a press conference that both the patience of the United States and that of the international community is running thin as they wait for Venezuelan authorities to "come clean" and release the records of the elections so the announced results can be verified.
Kirby referred to the Carter Center report, which concluded that the elections in Venezuela lack sufficient electoral integrity and do not meet international standards, and therefore "cannot be considered democratic."
"I simply want to reiterate that the United States joins other democracies in the region—and indeed around the world—in expressing serious concerns about these subversions of democratic norms. [...] The Venezuelan people have taken to the streets to demand that their votes be counted. They cannot be blamed for this," stated the U.S. official.
Kirby stated that the U.S. government has serious concerns regarding reports of victims, violence, and arrests, including the warrants issued against opposition leaders.
"We condemn political violence and repression of any kind," the spokesperson concluded.
Since Maduro's self-proclaimed victory, an increasing number of voices in the international community, including the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU), and numerous Latin American countries, have urged Maduro's government to release the voting records to validate the results.
The protests against chavismo that began late Sunday have resulted so far in at least eleven deaths and over 1,000 demonstrators detained.
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