Q24N (BBC) Almost four months after the controversial presidential elections in Venezuela, the United States government recognized the opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia as “president-elect” of Venezuela.
“The people of Venezuela spoke emphatically on July 28 and made @EdmundoGU the president-elect. Democracy demands respect for the will of the voters,” wrote the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, in a message posted on the X network on Tuesday.
This is the first time that the US authorities have referred to González Urrutia as “president-elect” although Blinken had already recognized the victory of the opposition candidate on August 1 – some 48 hours after the vote.
The Venezuelan people spoke resoundingly on July 28 and made @EdmundoGU the president-elect. Democracy demands respect for the will of the voters.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) November 19, 2024
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“Given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States and, more importantly, to the Venezuelan people, that Edmundo González Urrutia obtained the majority of the votes,” said the US official at the time.
Controversial elections
The presidential elections of July 28 provoked the most recent episode of the long-running Venezuelan political crisis.
This is because the National Electoral Council proclaimed the incumbent president, Nicolás Maduro, the winner, without ever publishing the detailed results of the votes or complying with the audits required to demonstrate that the announcement of his victory was in line with what really happened.
For its part, the opposition led by María Corina Machado – whom the Venezuelan authorities did not allow to compete for the presidency – published on a website what it claims are the minutes corresponding to more than 83% of the votes, according to which González Urrutia obtained 7,303,480 votes (67%) and Maduro obtained 3,316,142 votes (30%).
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Arrests in Venezuela
In the face of street protests against the official results, Maduro’s government carried out mass arrests not only of protesters but also of numerous activists, including electoral witnesses who were in charge of collecting the minutes published by the opposition.
According to the human rights organization Foro Penal, at least 1,800 people were arrested in the days following the elections, including more than a hundred minors.
At the same time, Maduro went to the Supreme Court of Justice – an instance that according to numerous analysts has been co-opted for years by the Venezuelan government – where he obtained a sentence that validated his victory.
As a consequence of this process, in which the opposition did not participate because it considered that it was not an impartial instance nor was it legally competent to decide on the electoral results, the Prosecutor’s Office – also accused of being the judicial arm of Chavismo – started a criminal process against both González Urrutia and Machado.
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This criminal case forced Machado to go into hiding, while González Urrutia sought and obtained asylum in Spain.
Despite the criticism received, the Venezuelan authorities maintain that the electoral process was clean, that the winner was Maduro and that the judicial proceedings opened around it are in accordance with the law.
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