MIAMI, United States. – The United States government took new measures on Thursday against dictator Nicolás Maduro and his representatives, whom it accused of obstructing a competitive and inclusive electoral process in Venezuela, according to reported Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken.
“Instead of respecting the will of the Venezuelan people as expressed at the ballot box, Maduro and his representatives have falsely claimed victory, while repressing and intimidating the democratic opposition in an illegitimate attempt to seize power by force,” Blinken said in a statement. his statement.
The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 16 individuals affiliated with Maduro, including leaders of the National Electoral Council, the Supreme Court of Justice, and the regime-controlled National Assembly. These officials, according to Blinken, “impeded a transparent electoral process and the disclosure of accurate election results.”
Simultaneously, the State Department announced the imposition of new visa restrictions on Maduro-aligned officials under Presidential Proclamation 9931. These individuals are accused of having undermined the electoral process in Venezuela and being responsible for acts of repression. To date, nearly 2,000 individuals have been identified as potential subjects of these visa restrictions for their roles in significant corruption and human rights violations in Venezuela.
“The United States will continue to promote accountability for those who undermine democracy in Venezuela,” Blinken stressed. He also mentioned that the sanctions have been taken in accordance with Executive Order 13692, which was expanded by Executive Order 13857 to include individuals who act, directly or indirectly, as “officials aligned” with the Maduro regime.
Both the United States and the European Union They have condemned the electoral fraud committed by the Maduro regime on July 28.
A review of more than 23,000 voting station-level tally sheets collected by the opposition suggests that Edmundo González, Venezuela’s opposition candidate, received more than twice as many votes as incumbent Nicolas Maduro, the prestigious newspaper concluded. The Washington Post.
The news agency Associated Press (AP) also performed a similar analysis and came to the same conclusions.
The Carter Center, a leading international organization specializing in election observation, also stated that the presidential elections held in Venezuela did not meet international standards of electoral integrity and therefore “cannot be considered democratic.”
The statement The organization stressed that the process did not comply with “international parameters and standards for electoral processes.” The organization emphasized that it was unable to verify the results declared by the National Electoral Council (CNE) due to the “lack of transparency in the publication of results broken down by polling station,” which it considers a “serious violation of electoral principles.”
Following the presidential elections in Venezuela, in which the pro-government National Electoral Council gave victory to Nicolás Maduro with 51.2% of the votes, the leaders María Corina Machado and Edmundo González and their team began a process of verification of the minutes and made them available to Venezuelans in a website.
