Although he retained the presidency during the Venezuelan election in July Nicolas Madurohowever, this seems to have a price to pay. And with him, also for the whole country.
“Even the left-wing Colombian and Brazilian presidents do not recognize the results of the rigged elections, which puts Maduro in an uncomfortable position. A tangible consequence of this, for example, is that Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva prevented Venezuela from joining the BRICS+ partner countries at the summit in Kazan. This is a symbolic yet painful step for Maduro, it is no coincidence that he then made a critical statement about Lula and his foreign policy advisers, such as Celso Amorim,” he told Economx Gyula Sándor Nagyprofessor at the Corvinus University of Budapest.
The USA, Italy and Argentina also protested
In the past few days, the leaders of several countries have spoken publicly about being the candidate of an opposition coalition Edmundo Gonzálezt considers him the officially elected president of Venezuela. “We are working together with the European Union for a peaceful and democratic transition in Venezuela. So that the will of the Venezuelan people can prevail, based on which González Urrutia is the elected president, and so that their legitimate aspirations for freedom and democracy can come true” – cites to Buenos Aires Times Giorgia Meloni Italian Prime Minister, who spoke openly about the electoral fraud in Venezuela during his visit to Argentina.
Edmundo González, presidential candidate of the Venezuelan opposition coalition, in Puerta del Sol on September 28, 2024.
Image: Getty Images / Europa Press
The Italian Prime Minister’s opinion that González would be the president of Venezuela within the legal framework, the Argentine President, Javier Miley also shares. But Antony Blinken US Secretary of State also recently spoke about González as an openly elected president of Venezuela.
“On July 28, the Venezuelan people spoke decisively and elected Edmundo González as president. Democracy requires that the will of the electorate be respected”
– he wrote on the politician’s social media page.
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
According to the expert, both the United States and Argentina have been constantly criticizing Maduro and his regime since the scandalous conduct of the presidential elections and the announcement of falsified results. This statement cannot therefore be considered a revolutionary new attitude from either side. THE CNN however, Blinken’s post is still a milestone in the sense that so far the leaders of the USA and other countries have only talked about the fact that González won more votes in July than the incumbent president. However, he has not been recognized as the “elect president” until now.
Until now, the democratic part of the “international community” had expected that the Venezuelan electoral commission would publish some kind of detailed documentation about the constituency results, but since the internal legal remedy procedure was closed with the decision of the Supreme Court, the opposition had exhausted its options within the limits
explained the researcher.
There is only one tool left, the question is how effective it is
The professor emphasized that at this point “only international pressure is left. The first step in this is to name an “opposition” president, as was the case five years ago. In 2019, this person was Juan Guaidó, compared to the events of five years ago, he is now a truly legitimate – de facto – leader. Edmundo González actually received the most votes. The opposition was able to prove this with a clever trick, as they collected the authentic minutes of 85 percent of the polling stations.which clearly prove their victory.”
In practice, however, it matters very little who is recognized as president abroad, since power is held by Maduro and his interests.
Of course, foreign policy isolation can cause minor or major inconveniences, and even major disruptions in the long term for Venezuela. This “may also have concrete financial consequences after a while through a decrease in bilateral trade and investment. However, this will not happen immediately” said the expert.
Source: www.economx.hu
