The United States, the European Union and some twenty countries have rejected this Friday the repression of the demonstrators and asked the Government of Venezuela to immediately release all the people who have been arbitrarily detained in the framework of the protests after the presidential elections of July 28, in which the electoral authorities proclaimed Nicolás Maduro the winner without showing evidence to support that result. “We urge that democratic principles be respected, as well as human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Venezuelans and, in particular, the right to demonstrate peacefully and to exercise freedom of expression,” says the joint declaration signed by governments from America, Europe and Africa, from Argentina, Chile or Canada, to Morocco, Italy and Spain.
The statement – also signed by Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay – comes on the eve of the demonstrations that the opposition, led by María Corina Machado, has called for this Saturday in Venezuela and in the rest of the countries where the 7.7 million Venezuelans who have emigrated in recent years live. The mobilization seeks to vindicate the victory of the opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia.
The signatories also request that the authorities allow the “urgent return” of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights – expelled by the Maduro government in February – and urge Venezuela – as a State party to the 1954 Caracas Convention on Diplomatic Asylum – to issue the six opponents who have taken refuge in the official residence of the Argentine Republic in Caracas with safe-conduct passes that will allow them to leave Venezuelan territory.
The document reviews the preliminary report of the UN Panel of Experts on the presidential elections in Venezuela – which concluded that the process did not comply with the basic measures of transparency and integrity that are essential for the holding of credible elections – and recalls that the National Electoral Council (CNE) has not yet presented the minutes that support the veracity of the announced results. The opposition, for its part, has published more than 80% of the electoral minutes, which show a wide victory for González Urrutia, with 67% of the votes. “Consequently, we request the immediate publication of all the original minutes and the impartial and independent verification of these results, preferably by an international entity, to guarantee respect for the will of the Venezuelan people expressed at the polls,” says the declaration – which is not signed by Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, the three countries that have led an attempt at mediation to seek a negotiated solution. Any delay, the declaration adds, calls into question the results officially published on August 2, 2024.
“The moment demands a broad, inclusive and good faith dialogue to facilitate a political agreement that fosters national reconciliation, peace, public security and democracy in Venezuela,” the text concludes. “We commit to supporting all efforts in this regard, always advocating for a genuinely Venezuelan solution in which democracy, justice, peace and security prevail.”
This is the list of signatory countries:
Republic of Argentina
Canada
Republic of Chile
Czech Republic
Republic of Costa Rica
Republic of Ecuador
Kingdom of Spain
United States of America
Republic of Guatemala
Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Italian Republic
Kingdom of Morocco
Kingdom of the Netherlands
Republic of Panama
Republic of Paraguay
Republic of Peru
Portuguese Republic
Dominican Republic
Republic of Suriname
Eastern Republic of Uruguay
European Union
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