Tensions in Venezuela are rising as the international community continues to closely monitor developments in the country. The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) has called on the country’s authorities to take measures to prevent the spread of the virus.He put forward a proposal calling for greater transparency of the Venezuelan government in relation to the elections of last Sunday. The proposal obtained 17 votes in favor, 0 against and 11 abstentions, falling short of the absolute majority necessary to be approved.
According to the criteria of
Colombia and Brazil, among other countries that abstainedhad asked the Venezuelan government to publish the electoral records to clarify any doubts about the legitimacy of the process.
A decision that contradicts what was declared by Gustavo Petro, who on the morning of July 31st asked for a “transparent scrutiny with vote countingminutes and with oversight from all the political forces in his country.”
At the same time, the US diplomat for the Western Hemisphere, Brian Nichols, stated that, according to electoral records shared by civil society organizations and the opposition, the opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia would have surpassed Maduro. by a wide margin of votes. Nichols backed the opposition’s claims of fraud and stressed the need for a transparent review of the election results.
Assembly rejects the resolution proposal
At the start of the debate, the OAS Assembly held a first vote that did not have the 18 votes necessary for approval. In total, the delegations voted with 17 votes in favor, 11 abstentions, 0 against, and there were five absences.
Colombia and Brazil abstained from approving the text, while Chile approved it.
Now, delegations must propose a new resolution
Maduro threatens Edmundo and Maria Corina
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Wednesday that the opposition’s presidential candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, and his backer Maria Corina Machado should “be behind bars” for alleged “criminal” actions in recent days, when there were multiple spontaneous protests against the official results of Sunday’s elections.
“If you ask me my opinion as a citizen, I tell you that these people have to be behind bars, and there has to be justice in Venezuela,” said the head of state at a press conference.
Machado accuses Nicolás Maduro of choosing “repression”
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on Wednesday accused President Nicolas Maduro of having chosen the path of “repression” and “lies” after “his defeat” in the presidential elections, in which the former deputy claims that the anti-Chavez majority candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, won, despite the fact that the electoral body declared the official candidate the winner.
“We offered the regime to democratically accept its defeat and move forward with negotiations to ensure a peaceful transition; however, they have opted for the path of repression, violence and lies,” wrote Machado, González Urrutia’s main supporter, in X.
Colombia believes OAS statement on Venezuela was a “salute to the flag”
The Colombian government said on Wednesday that its abstention from voting on the Organization of American States (OAS) resolution on Venezuela was due to the fact that it wants to maintain dialogue with Nicolás Maduro and said that, in any case, any statement is “a salute to the flag” because that country is not part of the multilateral organization.
This was confirmed to EFE by sources from the Colombian Foreign Ministry, who indicated that the OAS is not “the appropriate venue to address issues related to the political situation in Venezuela” and that previous decisions by that organization on the Caribbean country “have deviated from neutrality.”
Chavismo criticizes Boric and Milei
The Chavistas said on Wednesday that Chilean President Gabriel Boric and Argentine President Javier Milei had spoken “nonsense” about the presidential elections held in Venezuela on Sunday, in which, according to the electoral body, President Nicolás Maduro won, a result rejected by the majority opposition and questioned by a large part of the international community, which is demanding the publication of the minutes.
The first vice president of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, said that “whatever these Latin American leaders say,” Venezuelans “do not care” because they are “determined to be free.”
Almagro will ask the International Criminal Court to arrest Maduro for “bloodbath”
The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, announced on Wednesday that he will ask the International Criminal Court (ICC) to order the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom he accused of having committed a “bloodbath” against protesters following Sunday’s elections.
“It is time for justice and we are going to request that charges be brought with an arrest warrant,” Almagro said during an extraordinary session of the OAS Permanent Council held in Washington, where he invited member states to join the request.
More than 1,200 arrested in protests in Venezuela
“These are criminals, we have more than 1,200 criminals captured,” said the head of state before dozens of members of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB, militarized police) in a sector of Caracas, according to a video published by the Chavista leader on social media.
He also reiterated that these people were “trained ahead of time” in Peru and Chile, and also in “Texas” and “Colombia”, with the objective of going to Venezuela to “attack, to burn, (…) that is terrorism,” he said.
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