Twenty-two countries, including Spain, and the European Union, requested this Friday the “immediate publication of all the original minutes” of the elections of July 28 in Venezuela and the “impartial” and “independent” verification of the results of those elections, in which the National Electoral Council declared the winner to be Nicolas Maduroaccording to a statement signed in Santo Domingo.
“Any delay” in this verification, “preferably by an international entity to guarantee respect for the will of the Venezuelan people as expressed at the polls,” calls into question the results officially published on August 2, says the text, read by the Dominican Minister of Foreign Affairs, Roberto Álvarez, at the Presidential Palace in Santo Domingo together with the signatories of the declaration.
In the text, Argentina, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, the United States, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Italy, Morocco, the Netherlands, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the United Kingdom, Suriname, Portugal, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay and the European Union (EU) make “a firm call for common sense and sanity in Venezuela.”
“At this crucial moment for Venezuela and the region, all social and political actors must exercise maximum restraint in their public actions,” they added.
Countries call for respect for rights in Venezuela
The document urges respect for “democratic principles, as well as human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Venezuelans and, in particular, the right to demonstrate peacefully and exercise freedom of expression,” which “is not the current reality in Venezuela.The reports of arbitrary detentions of Venezuelans without due process are alarming, which is why we demand their immediate release.”
They also express their “deep rejection of the repression of protesters and the violence that has cost the lives of many Venezuelans in the post-electoral context.”
For this reason, they do “An urgent call for Venezuelan authorities to end the violence and release all those who have been detained, including opposition representatives,” while requesting that the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights be allowed to return to the country under the appropriate conditions to carry out its mandate.
They also request that, as a State party to the 1954 Caracas Convention on Diplomatic Asylum, Argentina issue safe-conduct passes to allow the six asylum seekers who remain in the official residence of Argentina to safely leave Venezuelan territory.
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“The moment demands a broad, inclusive and good faith dialogue to facilitate a political agreement that fosters national reconciliation, peace, public security and democracy in Venezuela,” the signatories added.
They thus pledge to “support all efforts in this regard, always advocating for a genuinely Venezuelan solution in which democracy, justice, peace and security prevail.”
The Venezuelan opposition reacts
Venezuelan opposition leaders Edmundo González Urrutia and María Corina Machado welcomed the call from 22 countries and the European Union (EU) on Friday.
González Urrutia, standard-bearer of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) – the main opposition bloc – and his main supporter published messages on X in gratitude for this declaration signed today in the Dominican Republic, in which the group of nations and the EU warn that “any delay” in this verification calls into question the results announced by the National Electoral Council (CNE).
González Urrutia considers this call to be “vital” “at this critical moment and essential to achieve an inclusive solution that restores peace and democracy in Venezuela,” and Machado, for her part, described the declaration as “historic,” which also urges respect for “democratic principles, as well as human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Venezuelans.”
Dominican Republic, scene of international demand
This statement was issued in Santo Domingo given the presence in this city of numerous leaders and representatives of countries and institutions from around the world who attended this Friday the inauguration of the Dominican president, Luis Abinader, for a second and final term.
On July 31, 17 governments voted in favor of a resolution at the Organization of American States (OAS) calling on Venezuelan authorities to publish the minutes of the elections “immediately,” but this initiative ultimately failed to prosper.
The countries that voted in favor of the resolution were Argentina, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, United States, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, JamaicaPanama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Suriname and Uruguay.