By Raul Castillo
30 Jul 2024, 15:27 PM EDT
The United States government said Tuesday that there are “clear indications” that the results announced by the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela, which declared Nicolás Maduro the winner, do not reflect the will of the Venezuelan people.
“We continue to call on Venezuelan electoral authorities to publish complete, transparent and detailed results, including by voting table,” NSC spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
“This is especially critical given that there are clear indications that the election results announced by Venezuela’s National Electoral Council do not reflect the will of the Venezuelan people as expressed at the ballot box on July 28,” the Biden administration official added.
Elvis Amoroso, president of the CNE and a former official in Maduro’s government, announced on Sunday that the current Venezuelan president won the elections with 51.20% of the votes, compared to 44.2% for the opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia. However, the CNE has not published any minutes (proof of the voting machines) that verify Maduro’s victory.
“We are also reviewing other electoral data shared by civil society organisations and reports from international election observers,” Watson said in his statement.
The Venezuelan opposition, unlike the CNE, has already published the official results and launched the website ganovzla.com so that each citizen can enter their identity card and thus verify the results of their polling station. According to these results, which are auditable, Edmundo González obtained almost 70% of the votes, more than 30 points above Maduro.
“The United States supports the democratic aspirations of the Venezuelan people, including their right to express their opinions freely and without retaliation,” the US official added in her statement.
Concerned about the arrest of opponents
Earlier on Tuesday, the US Embassy in Venezuela expressed concern “over the harassment and detention” of members of the democratic opposition.
In the morning hours, the opposition denounced the kidnapping of Freddy Superlano, National Political Coordinator of the Voluntad Popular party, which supports Edmundo González. In several videos published on social media, it can be seen how the State security forces detained Superlano in broad daylight in a residential area of Caracas.
Superlano was arrested along with two other activists from his party. Likewise, the opposition coalition parties La Causa R, Encuentro Ciudadano and Vente, the latter of which is led by María Corina Machado, have denounced the arrest of some of their activists in several states of Venezuela.
“Any action to detain or arrest members of the democratic opposition is an unjustified escalation. Those with opposing views should be able to express themselves and demonstrate peacefully without the threat of harassment or repression,” said the US embassy in Venezuela, which operates virtually because it does not have a headquarters in that country.
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