MIAMI, United States. – Former Ecuadorian President Jamil Mahuad, who governed his country from 1998 to 2000, declared to Colombian television station NTN24 that Venezuela’s options after the post-election crisis are to take “the streets, with strong international support, or [convertirse en] Cuba”.
“We are not facing just any dictator from Latin America, but a man who has been in power for 25 years, whose security ring, the people who look after him, are Cubans. Whose main advisors are Cubans. Who is supported by China, Russia and Iran,” said the former Ecuadorian president.
Mahuad also considered that the region has “a global geopolitical problem on its hands.” “It is not a problem only for Venezuela that only concerns Venezuelans. Thinking that is a mistake. We need solidarity like the one that has been shown this time. Maduro will only give up power if he is left alone. And there he will look for a negotiation mechanism, and that will only happen if he loses the support of the military forces,” said the former president.
To date, at least 26 countries have rejected the election results or, failing that, have demanded a proper recount of the votes.
On Friday, the National Electoral Commission (CNE), governed by Chavismo, reaffirmed Maduro’s alleged victory with 51.9% of the votes, but did not show any proof. Meanwhile, the opposition, which gathered 81.7% of the electoral records on a websiteassures that the victory was Edmundo González Urrutia, with 67% of the votes.
On Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recognized Edmundo González Urrutia as the winner of the July 28 presidential elections in Venezuela.
In a statementBlinken considered the overwhelming evidence presented by the democratic opposition and independent observers.
He also acknowledged that the opposition has published more than 80% of the voting records received directly from polling stations across the country. According to these records, Gonzalez Urrutia won the majority of the vote by an insurmountable margin. Independent observers, exit polls and quick counts conducted on election day corroborate this conclusion. Blinken emphasized that, after consultations with partners and allies globally, no country has concluded that Nicolás Maduro won the majority of the vote.
The observation mission of the Carter Center He also reported on irregularities in the process, which have undermined the credibility of the result announced by the CNE, Blinken recalled, referring to the declaration published on Tuesday by the leading election observation organization, which considers that the electoral process did not comply with “international parameters and standards for electoral processes.”
The organization stressed that it was unable to verify the results declared by the 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.”
In the August 1 statement, Blinken also rejected Nicolás Maduro’s baseless accusations against opposition leaders, calling them an anti-democratic attempt to repress political participation and maintain power. He expressed concern about threats of arrest against opposition leaders, including Edmundo González and Maria Corina Machadoand stressed the need to protect the safety of leaders and members of the democratic opposition.
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