Given the decision of the National Electoral Council (CNE) to revoke the invitation of the European Union Observation Mission to Venezuela, the former heads of State and Government participating in the Democratic Initiative of Spain and the Americas (IDEA), expressed their concern and consider the announcement to be extremely serious. .
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The CNE authorities complained about the decision of the European Union to maintain sanctions on Venezuelan officials and only lift those of the rector of the electoral body, Elvis Amoroso.
Idea highlighted that “the presidential elections on July 28, in which Edmundo González Urrutia would compete, will take place after the dictatorship first ignored the popular will expressed in the primary elections that determined, in a complete and qualified manner, the candidacy of the leader María Corina Machado; which, therefore, is disqualified without trial or file by the same dictatorship in equal violation of the Barbados Agreements and the Rule of Law.”
The declaration was signed by Mario Abdo from Paraguay, Óscar Arias from Costa Rica, José María Aznar from Spain, Felipe Calderón from Mexico, Rafael Ángel Calderón from Costa, Rica Laura Chinchilla M from Costa Rica, Alfredo Cristiani from El Salvador.
Iván Duque from Colombia, José María Figueres from Costa Rica. Vicente Fox for Mexico, Federico Franco for Paraguay. Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle from Chile. Osvaldo Hurtado from Ecuador, Luis Alberto Lacalle H. from Uruguay.
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Guillermo Lasso M. for Ecuador, Mauricio Macri from Argentina, Jamil Mahuad from Ecuador, Hipólito Mejía from the Dominican Republic, Carlos Mesa G. from Bolivia.
Lenin Moreno from Ecuador, Mireya Moscoso from Panama, Andrés Pastrana from Colombia, Ernesto Pérez Balladares from Panama, Jorge Tuto Quiroga from Bolivia, Mariano Rajoy from Spain, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez E. from Costa Rica, Julio María Sanguinetti from Uruguay, Luis Guillermo Solís from Costa Rica, Álvaro Uribe V. from Colombia and Juan Carlos Wasmosy, Paraguay.
US condemns exclusion of European observation in elections
Venezuela
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that “the United States is deeply concerned by the decision” announced two days ago by the electoral authority.
“This action goes against the commitments acquired in Barbados in October 2023 to support the integrity of the electoral process,” the spokesperson continued in relation to the agreement signed by the government and the opposition of Venezuela with mediation by Norway.
President Nicolás “Maduro and his representatives must immediately reverse this decision and allow credible international electoral observation that generates confidence in the electoral process,” he added.
The pro-government National Electoral Council (CNE) announced on Tuesday its decision to exclude European observation after the bloc ratified individual sanctions against some 50 Chavista officials, but temporarily suspended that of the president of that organization, Elvis Amoroso.
Amoroso described the measure as “blackmail” and called the bloc a “new interventionist actor,” a label that Chavismo constantly attributes to Washington.
“We will continue working with the international community to support the aspirations of the Venezuelan people for a more democratic, stable and prosperous Venezuela,” Miller insisted.
(Also read: Venezuela withdraws invitation to the European Union to observe presidential elections)
The Barbados agreement led the United States to partially lift an embargo on the Caribbean country’s oil, gas and gold, but it reimposed them six months later by repudiating actions against the opposition within the electoral process. In addition to the EU, the CNE invited the Carter Center, the BRICS and the African Union to observe the elections. Maduro will seek a third term that would project him to 18 years in power.
His biggest adversary is Edmundo González Urrutia, appointed by the main opposition alliance on behalf of the disqualified leader María Corina Machado. The EU sent a mission in 2021 for the last mayoral and gubernatorial elections, in which it identified considerable improvements in the voting system as well as irregularities. His presence ended abruptly after Maduro branded them “enemies” and “spies.”
ANA MARÍA RODRÍGUEZ BRAZÓN – EL TIEMPO CORRESPONDENT – CARACAS
With information from AFP
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