A group of former presidents gathered at the IDEA Group, among which are Mauricio Macri, reaffirmed their support for Edmundo González Urrutia as winner of the elections in Venezuela and they asked the Organization of American States (OAS) to intervene to restore democracy in the country. Furthermore, they described the regime as Nicolas Maduro like a “narcotyranny.” The Venezuelan assumed his third term.
After the international condemnation that generated the kidnapping and release of Maria Corina Machado In the march against Maduro’s inauguration for a new six-year mandate, the former heads of state who make up the Democratic Initiative of Spain and the Americas (IDEA) issued a statement repudiating the actions of the Venezuelan government after the July 28 elections.
“We thank the presidents José Raúl Mulino of Panama and Luis Abinader of the Dominican Republic the invitation and welcome that they extended to us as IDEA Group in the purpose of offering support and recognition to the elected president of Venezuela, Edmundo González Urrutia; and to reaffirm our support, for 10 years, to the Venezuelan people, in their fight to free themselves from the narcotyranny prevailing and now after its electoral decision of July 28, 2024,” the statement begins.
Former heads of state asked the OAS for democratic restoration in Venezuela
Among the 32 former Latin American and Spanish leaders who signed the statement are Mauricio Macri (Argentina), Felipe Calderon and Vincent Fox from Mexico, Oscar Arias from Costa Rica, Álvaro Uribe, Andrés Pastrana and Ivan Duque from Colombia; Lenin Moreno (Ecuador), Eduardo Frei (Chili), Julio María Sanguinetti (Uruguay), Mario Abdo and Juan Carlos Wasmosy from Paraguay and Mariano Rajoy and José María Aznar from Spain.
The former presidents indicated that after the elections “a police and military regime” was established that “through State terrorism actions which have left dozens dead and thousands imprisoned, sheltered in the Argentine embassy.” And, furthermore, “a wave of repression against the organizers of the popular demonstration of last January 9 and that, despite this, the people carried it out with courage.”
They also reported that they were imprisoned at “a thirty leaders and a frustrated attack was carried out against the life and personal integrity of Maria Corina Machado and his subsequent kidnapping for hours; and the next day, January 10, the tyrant Nicolás Maduro Moros usurped power and He crowned himself in the company of the dictators of Cuba and Nicaragua”.
Along these lines, the signatories ratified their “invariable commitment to continue alongside the Venezuelans until they conquer freedom and oppression and terror cease” and took the opportunity to congratulate the Venezuelan people “for having defended his will expressed at the polls with civility and courage, during the designated days.”
The signatories expressed their conviction that “the democratically expressed popular sovereignty is a right of the people that the State bodies are obliged to respect and enforce” and asked the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, to carry out “an urgent assessment of what happened before the Permanent Council and so that this high body arranges the corresponding diplomatic efforts for the urgent reestablishment of democracy in Venezuela and the elected president can be sworn in, Edmundo González Urrutia”.
“Only in this way will other countries be able to guarantee their own stabilities and safeguard the democratic heritage that serves as support and justification for the Inter-American System, the democracies of the Americas,” they concluded.
Nicolás Maduro assumed a third term and the opposition denounced “usurpation of power”
Last Friday, Nicolás Maduro was sworn in as president of Venezuela for the third time. It will last six years and he stated that he will enforce “all the obligations of the Constitution and the laws of the Republic.” He also remembered the late Hugo Chávez. after the act, It will have its border with Colombia closed until next Monday.
The president took office, mentioning the “historic, noble and brave people of Venezuela, before this Constitution, that I will enforce all its mandates, that I will enforce all the obligations of the constitution and the laws of the republic.” He also swore “by Bolívar, by Sucre, by Urdaneta, by Manuela Sáenz. I swear by the eternal memory of our beloved chief and commander Hugo Chávez.”
The Democratic Unitary Platform “Venezuela Unity”, belonging to Edmundo González Urrutia and María Corina Machado, published a statement after Maduro’s inauguration. “Today begins a new phase in the fight for democracy and freedom in Venezuela,” the text maintains and affirms that González Urrutia “is the one who this January 10 was to be sworn in as President to guide the country’s destiny for the next six years.”
The opposition group denounced that “with the usurpation of power” by Maduro on this occasion “a Coup d’état against the rights of the Venezuelan people“.
Source: Ambito
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