US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that after the presidential elections in Venezuela, the will of the population “could not have been clearer.” “Unfortunately, this will and their votes were not reflected, and that is what has happened since then,” the official said from Santo Domingo.
The President of the Dominican Republic and the Secretary of State of the United States met this Friday, September 6, in Santo Domingo, where they discussed the crisis in Haiti and Venezuela.
Luis Abinader, president of the Dominican Republic, expressed concern about the situation in Venezuela, especially the arrest warrant against the main opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia. “We will continue to advocate for the OAS resolution and for a hemispheric response coordinated with the UN,” he said.
For his part, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed Abinader’s concern. “We are very concerned about the course of events in Venezuela after the elections, where the will of the Venezuelan people could not have been clearer. Unfortunately, this will and their votes were not reflected. This is what has happened since then.”
*Read also: US seizes plane used by Nicolás Maduro in Dominican Republic
Regarding the seizure this week by U.S. authorities in the Dominican Republic of an aircraft used by President Nicolás Maduro, a Falcon EX model with the initials T7ESPRT and registered in the Republic of San Marino, Secretary Blinken said that the action was carried out in compliance with sanctions.
“We’ve been very clear, we’re going to enforce sanctions if we find they’ve been violated, and that’s what we’ve done. We’ve enforced our sanctions and we’ll continue to do so when appropriate,” Blinken said.
In response to statements by the Minister of the Interior and Justice, Diosdado Cabello, about possible reprisals against the Dominican Republic for the seizure of the aircraft, President Abinader responded that they would continue to defend “democratic principles.”
“The Dominican Republic has worked to improve the quality of life of its people. We do not have oil, but our economy is larger than Venezuela’s. We will continue to defend democratic principles. These threats do not bother us in the least,” said the president of that country.
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