Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez attends a meeting with women from all walks of life in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, June 11, 2024.
Ariana Cubillos/AP
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Ariana Cubillos/AP
CARACAS, Venezuela — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that the opposition, not the current authoritarian leader, was the clear winner in Venezuela’s recent presidential election.
The support from Washington comes as regional leaders urge President Nicolás Maduro to show evidence of his self-proclaimed victory.
Blinken said there was overwhelming evidence that opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won Sunday’s race. He criticized Venezuela’s electoral commission for conducting a deeply flawed election that clearly did not reflect the will of voters.
Blinken said it was “time for all parties in Venezuela to begin discussing a respectful, peaceful transition in accordance with Venezuela’s electoral laws and the wishes of the Venezuelan people.”
Maduro’s electoral commission has refused to release public voter turnout tallies. Opponents said they collected 80 percent of the vote, showing Gonzalez won two-thirds of the vote. Maduro was declared the winner with 51% of the vote.
The leaders of Mexico, Brazil and Colombia called on Maduro to make all vote counts public. He claimed without providing evidence that the committee had been hacked. More than 1,000 people were detained, many protesting against alleged electoral fraud.
Countries including the United States recognized then-opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president and imposed sanctions on Venezuela after the last election in 2018 was widely seen as neither free nor fair.
