The president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, affirmed this Thursday “from the political left” that “the Government of Nicolás Maduro is a dictatorship”, after being informed of the arrest of the Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado during a rally in Caracas , one day before the presidential inauguration.
“I have been informed that in Venezuela there are very critical situations prior to what is going to be tomorrow’s inauguration (…) I have one certainty: in Venezuela today those who oppose the Government are being persecuted,” declared the Chilean head of state from the southern city of Concepción, who did not refer in more detail to the arrest of Corina Machado because he did not have all the background information.
“In Venezuela today there is no freedom. And I have to say it very clearly, very explicitly, so that there is no doubt. For this reason, as the Chilean Government, we have withdrawn our diplomatic representation in Venezuela,” Boric stressed, alluding to the definitive withdrawal of his then diplomatic representative in Venezuela, Jaime Gazmuri, and to the decision not to send representatives to the inauguration of Maduro, whose triumph In the presidential elections it was granted by the Venezuelan electoral body.
“We do not recognize the electoral fraud perpetuated by the Maduro Government, which to this day continues to persecute organizations linked to the defense of human rights and organizations linked to anyone who disagrees with it,” added the Chilean president.
Maduro ordered the departure of Chilean diplomacy from Venezuela after Boric criticized the electoral process and did not recognize him as the winner in the presidential elections on July 28, 2024, marked by a controversial vote count that several countries and political representatives accused of being fraudulent. , among them the opposition candidate himself, who claims his victory.
Petro responds to the Venezuelan Government
The Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, responded this Thursday to the Minister of the Interior and Justice of Venezuela, Diosdado Cabello, that the Popular Democratic Front, a platform of which former presidential candidate Enrique Márquez is a part, is not “a criminal organization.”
“The Popular Democratic Front of Venezuela is not a criminal organization and is a fraternal movement of Colombian progressivism. Its members are being detained,” Petro said in a message on the X social network.
The Colombian president thus responded to Cabello who criticized him for supporting Márquez, whom the minister said is “part of the coup d’état they want to carry out in Venezuela.”
“There are no angels here and even less in the opponents, for those who are defending it, did you hear, (Gustavo) Petro? Defend him, (…) He may be your friend, but he is a criminal,” Cabello said.
In the last two days, Petro condemned the detention of Márquez, whom he referred to as his “friend,” and advocated for “the freedom of all people detained for political reasons” in Venezuela.
Even the Colombian Government asked this Thursday to respect the rights of the opposition, including those of María Corina Machado, and expressed its “deep concern and rejection of the increase and severity of reports of violations of Human Rights.”
“The arrests of Carlos Correa, Enrique Márquez and the systematic harassment of opposition leaders, including María Corina Machado, lead the Colombian Government to reiterate the call to the Venezuelan authorities to fully respect their rights,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. .
Cabello linked Márquez with a United States FBI official who, according to national authorities, was detained on Tuesday in Venezuela with six other foreigners whom the Government of Nicolás Maduro designates as “mercenaries”, among them also a US soldier. two Colombians and three Ukrainians.
Márquez, also former vice president of the National Electoral Council (CNE) and former deputy, demanded on numerous occasions the publication of the minutes of the July votes, and rejected the ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) that validated the controversial re-election of Maduro proclaimed by the electoral body.
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