The announcement of the re-election of Nicolas Maduro for a third term sparked spontaneous demonstrations, which were brutally suppressed. RODRIGO OROPEZA / AFP
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The international community is distancing itself from Venezuela’s Supreme Court. The United States and ten Latin American countries on Friday, August 23, rejected the Venezuelan judicial system’s decision to validate Nicolas Maduro’s victory in the July 28 presidential election, according to a joint statement published in Quito.
Argentina, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and the United States say they reject “categorically the announcement of the Supreme Court of Venezuela (TSJ) indicating the completion of an alleged verification of the results of the electoral process”.
Unsurprisingly, Venezuela’s Supreme Court, considered by most observers to be subordinate to power, on Thursday approved the re-election of President Maduro despite accusations of fraud by the opposition, which sees the high court’s decision as “zero”.
The Supreme Court’s decision “lacks credibility”
Nicolas Maduro, 61, was declared the winner with 52% of the vote by the National Electoral Council (CNE), which, however, did not publish the minutes of the polling stations that claimed to be victims of computer hacking. Such an attack is not considered very credible by the opposition and many observers who see it as a maneuver by those in power to avoid revealing the exact figure.
According to the opposition, which published the minutes obtained thanks to its investigators, its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won the vote with more than 60% of the vote.
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The US assured in a separate statement on Friday that the Supreme Court’s decision “utterly lacks credibility given the overwhelming evidence that Gonzalez won the most votes on July 28”.
“The will of the Venezuelan people (must) be respected”adds Vedant Patel, a spokesman for the US State Department, in the press release.
“Our countries had already expressed their disapproval of the validity of the CNE declaration after opposition representatives were denied access to the official count”underlines the joint declaration.
Spain requires minutes from polling stations
Spain, for its part, assured on Friday that it would not be able to recognize the result of the vote until all polling stations’ minutes were published.
“In order to recognize the results of the Venezuelan presidential election, it is important that the voting results are published in a complete and verifiable manner to guarantee full transparency”said a spokesman for the Spanish Foreign Ministry.
The announcement of the re-election of Nicolas Maduro for a third term sparked spontaneous demonstrations, which were brutally suppressed. They left 27 dead, according to a new report from authorities Thursday. In addition, 192 people were injured and 2,400 arrested.