US Recognizes Venezuelan Opposition Candidate Gonzalez, Backed By Former NED-Funded NGO Founder
01:37 GMT 02.08.2024 (Updated: 03:51 GMT 02.08.2024)
© AP Photo / Fernando Vergara
Subscribe
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States has determined it will recognize opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez the winner of the Venezuelan presidential election, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a press release.
"Given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States and, most importantly, to the Venezuelan people that Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election," Blinken said in the release on Thursday.
Blinken called on the Venezuelan parties to begin discussions on a peaceful transition of power in accordance with Venezuelan electoral law.
Moreover, Blinken also said that the United States rejects Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s "unsubstantiated" allegations against opposition leaders, including González and María Corina Machado.
Machado co-founded the Venezuelan Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Sumate which received significant financial support from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). In 2005, she traveled to the White House to meet then-US President George W Bush, a meeting that was described in classified diplomatic cables as "poking [then Venezuelan President Hugo] Chavez in the eye,"
President George W. Bush welcomes Maria Corina Machado, the founder and executive director of Sumate, to the Oval Office Tuesday, May 31, 2005.
© Eric Draper / White House
In 2014, she took a diplomatic position with the government of Panama, which gave her the ability to speak at the Organization of American States (OAS). She used that platform to publicly call for foreign intervention in Venezuela. She has since been banned from running for office.
Earlier this week, Maduro said Gonzalez and Machado must face justice.
On Thursday, RT journalist Fiorella Isabel reported that a draft resolution for the US House of Representatives was being floated around Washington looking for co-signers. That draft calls for more sanctions on Venezuela and would recognize González as the legitimate president of Venezuela.
She added that the draft was authored by Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL).
She added that the draft was authored by Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL).
BREAKING from an email I received:
— Fiorella Isabel (@FiorellaIsabelM) August 1, 2024
There’s a draft resolution that’s seeking co-sponsors in US Congress & explicitly rejects Maduro & names Edmundo Gonzales Urrutia as President-elect of Venezuela, calling for the "imposition of new sanctions" against Caracas & its allies. pic.twitter.com/q1Upzdy3xH
In 2019, the US officially recognized Juan Guaido as the interim President of Venezuela. He was eventually removed as the leader of the opposition from his own party and currently lives in Miami, Florida.
30 December 2022, 22:33 GMT
The National Electoral Council declared Maduro president-elect for 2025-2031 after the presidential elections were held in Venezuela on July 28. The Electoral Council said Maduro won 51% of the vote.
Protests broke out the day after the election, leading to clashes between the police and protesters in Caracas. Protesters threw stones and Molotov cocktails at law enforcement officers. According to the Prosecutor General's Office, 77 law enforcement officers were injured; more than 1,000 people were detained on charges of destruction of state infrastructure, incitement of hatred and terrorism.
The Venezuelan government said a number of countries interfered in the elections and the people's right to self-determination.
