The president of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, openly opposed to Latin American dictatorial regimes, used his speech at the 79th United Nations General Assembly to denounce the recent electoral fraud committed by Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.
In his last speech as the head of the Uruguayan State, Lacalle Pou sharply addressed the political crisis in Venezuela, which he labeled as "authoritarian and intolerant," denouncing the "numerous violations of human rights" and the abuses reported within Venezuelan territory.
"Many governments and world leaders have looked the other way. Due to a lack of interest for some of them, and many others due to self-interest. It's about condemning fraud, condemning the regime, not just a flawed electoral process," he argued from the UN headquarters in New York.
The leader urged various governments to act to prevent "authoritarianism" from spreading in Latin America and other regions.
“It is time to act for Venezuela, for Venezuelans, and also, allow me, if the international community is tolerant of these attitudes, we can only wait to see which country will be subjected to what the Venezuelans are subjected to,” he emphasized.
On that very podium last year, Lacalle Pou firmly reiterated his criticisms of "authoritarian populisms," alluding to regimes such as those in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua without mentioning names. On various occasions, the Uruguayan leader has emphasized how these governments not only violate human rights but also impoverish their peoples, urging the international community to adopt a more decisive stance.
This call to action was not isolated. In January 2023, during the CELAC Summit in Buenos Aires, Lacalle Pou launched a tirade against the organization for accommodating governments that, in his opinion, do not respect either democracy or human rights. In his remarks, he insisted on the importance of overcoming ideological divisions to focus on the defense of fundamental rights.
Following this same critical line, last Tuesday, Argentine President Javier Milei also made strong accusations, this time aimed at the UN, for allowing countries like Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran to be part of its Human Rights Council.
Milei described these countries as "bloody dictatorships" and denounced that they should not be part of an organization that defends human rights.
The Chilean president Gabriel Boric also expressed his concern about the authoritarianism and the violations occurring in Venezuela, worsened by the electoral fraud on July 28 by Maduro and his government.
Boric stated that Latin America is “facing a dictatorship that intends to steal an election, that persecutes its opponents, and is indifferent to the exile, not of thousands, but of millions of its citizens.”
He urged to seek a "political solution" to the Venezuelan crisis, while asking for the "victory of the opposition" to be recognized, led by former candidate Edmundo González Urrutia and María Corina Machado, and to move "forward with a peaceful transition to a democracy in shape".
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