US recognises Venezuela opposition’s Gonzalez Urrutia as ‘president-elect’
Venezuela declared Antony Blinken an ‘avowed enemy’ after he post on X that the US recognised Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as president-elect.
The US has recognised opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as president-elect of Venezuela four months after a disputed election in which incumbent Nicolas Maduro claimed victory amid accusations of fraud.
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
The statement from Secretary of State Anthony Blinken prompted a furious reaction from Caracas, which dismissed it as “ridiculous”.
“The Venezuelan people spoke resoundingly on July 28 and made (Mr Gonzalez) the president-elect,” Mr Blinken said on X. “Democracy demands respect for the will of the voters.”
The statement marked the first time the US has referred to Mr Gonzalez with that title, although President Joe Biden has previously declared that he won the election.
Mr Gonzalez said he was grateful for the US recognition.
“This gesture honours the change in our country and the civic feat that we carried out together this past July 28,” he said on X.
Mr Maduro claimed victory in the election and defied intense domestic and international pressure to release detailed polling numbers to back up the assertion.
Amid an outcry at home and abroad, the former bus driver handpicked by the late Hugo Chavez is now serving his third term in the oil-rich country whose economy is a shambles, as Venezuelans endure acute shortages of food, medicine and other basic goods.
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared Mr Maduro the election winner just hours after polls closed.
Unlike previous presidential elections, electoral authorities did not provide detailed vote counts. But the opposition coalition collected tally sheets from 80 per cent of the nation’s electronic voting machines and posted them online.
Mr Gonzalez and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said the voting records showed the former diplomat won the election with twice as many votes as Mr Maduro, who is accused of leading a harshly repressive leftist regime that has cracked down brutally on the opposition.
Foreign Minister Yvan Gil reacted to the Blinken declaration in a message on Telegram, describing him as an “avowed enemy of Venezuela”.
“In the last days of his government, he should dedicate himself to reflecting on his failures, getting rid of imperial and colonial complexes and going to write the memoirs of how the Bolivarian Revolution made him bite the dust of defeat, just like his predecessors,” Mr Gil said.
Mr Gil referenced Washington’s support in 2019 of then National Assembly Speaker Juan Guaido as acting president after Mr Maduro’s contested re-election in 2018.
Mr Gil quoted what he said was a popular adage: “Once you are ridiculous, you never stop being ridiculous.”
After the election, Mr Gonzalez fled to Spain due to an outstanding arrest warrant. Ms Machado, who was barred from running for president, has also gone into hiding.
Mr Maduro’s disputed re-election has faced criticism around the globe, including from the EU, and led to massive protests in Venezuela, resulting in 28 deaths, almost 200 injured and 2400 protesters arrested, among whom only 224 have been released.
Washington’s recognition of Mr Gonzalez comes in the shadow of Republican president-elect Donald Trump returning to power on January 20.
Mr Trump has appointed Florida senator Marco Rubio to succeed Mr Blinken as secretary of state, setting him up to be the first Latino to hold the position.
Mr Rubio, the child of Cuban immigrants, is expected to take a tougher stand against the leftist governments of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba.
Earlier this week, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who is friendly with Mr Maduro, reversed his support for the July elections, calling the vote a “mistake”.
AFP, AP
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