The United States recognizes Edmundo González Urrutia as “elected president” of Venezuela

This Tuesday, the United States publicly recognized the opponent Edmundo González as the elected president of Venezuela after the elections on July 28. This is the first time that the Biden Administration supports the opponent González as “elected”, although it had already designated him as the winner of the elections against Nicolás Maduro.

“The Venezuelan people spoke out forcefully on July 28 and named Edmundo González as president-elect. “Democracy demands respect for the will of the voters,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on social media.

Joe Biden’s Administration recognized González as the winner of the elections on August 1, but had until now avoided declaring him “president-elect” of Venezuela. This statement by the head of American diplomacy comes shortly after the victory of Donald Trump, who will take over from Joe Biden in the White House in two months and may apply a different foreign policy in his relations with Venezuela.

According to a source from the US Administration consulted by EFE, the designation does not imply that the US recognizes González Urrutia as Venezuelan president, but it does emphasize its position of considering him the winner of the elections. Furthermore, he adds that the reason why the Biden Government has decided to use this term is related to the imminence of Maduro’s inauguration for a third term, scheduled for January 10.

Last September, Spain, the US and 30 other countries affirmed that Edmundo González had achieved “the majority of the votes” in Venezuela according to “available data.” In that declaration, the different nations called for a “transition to resolve the country’s political impasse and restore democratic institutions,” although they stopped short of recognizing Edmundo González as “elected president.”

Although the US has so far avoided declaring González the winner, last October the Carter Center, which has acted as an international observer in the elections, published before the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) the alleged original voting records that would give victory to the opposition leader.

The fact that the Maduro regime declared the president the winner shortly after the elections unleashed a wave of protests in the country and hundreds of citizens were detained. The refusal of the Venezuelan justice system to publish the records with the official results, together with the opposition’s version, which claimed that the copies of the records obtained gave victory to González, has led the international community to request the publication of the results. minutes to definitively know the result.

The pressure from the Chavista regime, which launched a judicial investigation against González, led him to request political asylum in Spain, which was finally granted by the Government of Pedro Sánchez. In response, the Venezuelan Parliament urged Maduro to break “all relations” with our country, unleashing a diplomatic crisis between both nations.