“The United States will continue to advocate for a return to democratic freedoms in Venezuela, work to ensure that the will of Venezuelan voters is respected, and hold Nicolás Maduro and his representatives accountable for their actions,” Blinken said during the conversation.
The State Department also noted that during the call, Blinken praised María Corina Machado and Edmundo González’s “courage and commitment” to democratic principles “in the face of brutal repression and adversity.”
*Read also: Who is responsible for persecution and serious human rights violations in Venezuela?
The United States accepts González Urrutia as the winner of the July 28 presidential elections, the results of which – with a victory for Nicolás Maduro, according to the CNE – unleashed a wave of protests and the rejection of the election by the Venezuelan opposition and the international community.
For his part, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil rejected Secretary Blinken’s statements, and accused him of clinging to “a Guaido part two who fled and abandoned his people, plunging them into a new failure. Faced with the defeat inflicted on them by the Venezuelan people, they resort to the hackneyed script of violence with fascist methods and ridiculous threats.”
He urged the U.S. official to “face reality” and said that the government of Nicolás Maduro “will crush the brutality of the arrogant, lying and swindling politicians, who, in alliance with criminals, intend to divert us from the path of prosperity that we have consolidated.”
