August 7, 2024, 8:08 PM
August 7, 2024, 8:08 PM
The demand for electoral transparency in Venezuela by Venezuelan society and a majority of Latin American leaders remains firm and resounding.
The President of Chile, Gabriel Boricwent a step further on Wednesday by saying that in Venezuela a “attempted fraud” and announcing that “Chile does not recognize” the announcement by the National Electoral Council (CNE) that declared Nicolás Maduro the winner without evidence.
“Chile does not recognize Maduro’s self-proclaimed victory. We do not trust the independence or impartiality of the current institutions in Venezuela“the president said at a press conference at La Moneda Palace.
In a first reaction, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil accused Boric of positioning himself “to the right of Javier Milei,” the president of Argentina.
More than a week has passed since the June 28 elections and since the CNE announced in its first bulletin that Maduro had won the Venezuelan presidential elections against his main opponent, Edmundo González Urrutia.
The president of the CNE, Elvis Amoroso, confirmed last Friday, August 2, Maduro’s victory, with 51.95% of the votes compared to González’s 43.18%, but the voting records are still missing.
The Chilean president’s statements come a day after his meeting with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvawho strikes a delicate balance, harshly questioned within Brazil, between demanding the records and avoiding burning the bridges of dialogue with Maduro.
“Attempted fraud”
President Nicolás Maduro’s decision to take the case to the Supreme Court only increased suspicions in the international community.
“I have no doubt that the Maduro regime has attempted to commit fraud“Otherwise, they would have shown the famous minutes,” said Boric, who reiterated that Chile will only recognize the results verified by independent international organizations.
In Venezuela, the decision to refer to the courts a matter that should be resolved by the electoral power is not new.
In 2015, Maduro refused to recognise the results of legislative elections, which gave the opposition a two-thirds majority in the Assembly.
At that time, the decision of the President of Venezuela, which led to the creation of a parallel legislative power, the so-called National Constituent Assembly, began with the resolution of the TSJ on four deputies from the Amazon.
Imitating his own steps, last week Maduro filed an appeal before the Electoral Chamber of the TSJ to carry out an expert assessment of the results announced by the CNE.
Chile’s decision to ignore the results announced by the CNE does not imply recognizing González Urrutia as president-elect.
“We cannot, as an international community, make the same mistake that was made at the time with [el autoproclamado presidente interino Juan] Guaidó and most countries understand this,” Boric said.
The Chilean president also referred to allegations of serious human rights violations in Venezuela and the political persecution of opposition leaders.
“In addition, crimes are being committed human rights violationsrepressing people who are demonstrating, and initiating criminal prosecutions that are ridiculous and would not be acceptable in our country or in any other democratic country.”
The Venezuelan foreign minister responded on social media to the Chilean president for questioning the electoral process that declared Maduro the winner.
“Gabriel Boric is positioned to Milei’s right and the United States State Department. His mask has definitely fallen, his Pinochet-style coup government is exposed,” Gil wrote on the social network X.
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