The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has congratulated Edmundo González “for receiving the most votes” in Venezuela’s election, as more countries came out to recognise the opposition candidate as the winner of Sunday’s disputed poll.
Blinken spoke with González and opposition leader María Corina Machado in a phone call on Friday and voiced concern for both of them, the state department said. On Thursday, Blinken recognised González as the winner of last Sunday’s vote, citing “overwhelming evidence”.
Venezuela’s electoral authority, seen by critics as favouring the ruling socialists, proclaimed President Nicolás Maduro the winner, saying on Monday that he obtained 51% of the vote compared with 46% for González. The head of the CNE electoral body reaffirmed a similar margin of victory for Maduro on Friday and said it had now counted 97% of the vote.
However, despite demands from the opposition and governments and organisations throughout the region, the CNE has still not released detailed vote tallies. The CNE’s website has been down since Monday, which authorities have blamed on a hack, without presenting evidence.
The opposition says its own detailed tally shows González likely received 67% of the vote, winning by a margin of nearly 4m votes, and earning more than double Maduro’s support.
On Friday, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama and Uruguay joined the US in recognising that González received the most votes. Argentina also followed the US’s lead, with its foreign minister, Diana Mondino, declaring González “the legitimate winner and president-elect”
Others, including Russia, China and Cuba, have congratulated Maduro.
According to a diplomatic source speaking to the Reuters news agency, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico are pushing for Maduro to meet with González.
On Friday, the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, criticised the US stance as “an excess” and accused Blinken of “overstepping his boundaries”.
Celso Amorim, the main foreign policy adviser for the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has cast some doubt on the opposition’s vote tallies, describing them as “informal data”, and arguing that parts were “based on quick count mechanisms, exit polls”, in an interview with CNN Brazil.
Amorim emphasised that Brazil did not seek to interfere in its neighbour’s internal affairs but wanted to promote “social peace for Venezuela”.
The top diplomat for Norway, which has attempted to mediate past disputes between the government and opposition, cited “legitimate doubts” over how the election was conducted in a statement on Friday.
“We expect the Venezuelan authorities to comply with the agreed commitments and to respect the will of the Venezuelan people,” the foreign minister, Espen Barth Eide, said.
The Maduro government has sought to brush off foreign critiques as interference in its affairs, accusing Washington of seeking to overthrow Venezuela’s government.
Earlier on Friday, the Venezuelan foreign minister, Yvan Gil, accused Washington of being “at the forefront of a coup attempt”.
In a post on social media, González thanked the US “for recognising the will of the Venezuelan people”.
Once one of Latin America’s wealthiest nations, oil-rich Venezuela has suffered a prolonged economic meltdown and the mass migration of about a third of its population over roughly the past decade. That largely overlaps with the tenure of Maduro, who blames US sanctions for the country’s problems.
Anti-Maduro protesters clashed with police this week, and fresh opposition marches are expected on Saturday, which both González and Machado are expected to attend.
So far, at least 20 people have been killed in post-election protests, according to rights group Human Rights Watch. About 1,200 others have been arrested in connection with the demonstrations, according to the government.
Source: theguardian.com
