The United States said the world should acknowledge Venezuela’s opposition won last weekend’s election, as President Nicolás Maduro doubled down on his claims of victory and called for his opponents to be jailed for decades.
“Everyone can see – it is clear that Edmundo González Urrutia defeated Nicolas Maduro by millions of votes,” Brian Nichols, the top US diplomat for western hemisphere affairs, told a meeting of the Organization of American States in Washington.
The world’s governments should acknowledge Mr Gonzalez’s “overwhelming” victory, he said Wednesday.
Mr Maduro has been ratcheting up his rhetoric against Mr González and María Corina Machado, the former legislator his government barred from running in Sunday’s election. At a news conference, the socialist leader said they “should be behind bars” for allegedly promoting post-election violence and seeking to destabilise his government.
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“Ms Machado, where are you? Why don’t you show your face, after so much outrage and violence?” Mr Maduro said, building on top lawmaker Jorge Rodríguez’s call for her arrest on Tuesday following demonstrations.
Ms Machado later responded to the comments by Mr Nichols, saying it was a “very important” confirmation of Mr Gonzalez’s victory and backed his call for greater transparency in the vote tabulation.
The opposition leaders say they have overwhelming proof that Mr González is the rightful election winner, citing evidence from more than 80 per cent of the country’s polling stations. Venezuela’s electoral body said Mr Maduro took about 51 per cent of the vote.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Maduro requested that Venezuela’s high court take over auditing of the voting data from the electoral board. The move ignores calls from President Joe Biden’s administration, governments from the Group of Seven and allies Colombia and Brazil to allow transparent accounting of the results, increasing doubts of the legitimacy of the vote.
Venezuela’s top judicial body has for years been controlled by regime loyalists who have issued favourable decisions on issues from expropriations by the state to the banning of opposition political candidates.
Venezuela’s electoral authority, which is controlled by Maduro appointees, said early Monday morning the incumbent president defeated opposition rival González by a margin of 51 per cent to 44 per cent of the votes. Mr González and Ms Machado, for whom he is standing in, immediately disputed that.
On Wednesday, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, said: “Our patience, and that of the international community, is running out,” adding the electoral authority needed to “come clean” and release the voting data.
In his address, Mr Maduro said he respected Mr Biden and his decision to step out of the country’s election this year. But, he added: “How come you say you have lost patience with Venezuela? Then I’ve lost it with you. This is David versus Goliath.” – Bloomberg