The Cuban Foreign Minister insists on “the victory of the Bolivarian and Chavista Revolution and the re-election of Maduro”

EFE (via 14ymedio), Caracas, 23 August 2024 — The governments of Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Guatemala described as “fraud” the ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) of Venezuela, which attributed the election victory to Nicolás Maduro, while the leaders of Colombia, Brazil and Mexico, who tried to mediate in the post-election crisis, have not yet pronounced themselves.
The sentence of the Supreme Court, with which the review of the elections concludes in an “unambiguous and unrestricted” way, comes 22 days after Maduro himself requested this process, through an amparo appeal that was never known and for which the ten former presidential candidates were summoned to the Supreme Court.
“The verdict consolidates the fraud,” said the Chilean president, Gabriel Boric, on social networks. “The Maduro regime obviously enthusiastically welcomes this verdict that will be marked by infamy. There is no doubt that we are facing a dictatorship that falsifies elections, represses people who think differently and doesn’t care about the largest exile in the world, only comparable to that of Syria as a result of a war.”
Luis Lacalle Pou said that “Maduro’s regime confirms what the international community has been denouncing: fraud
In the same vein, the head of state of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, said that “the Maduro regime confirms what the international community has been denouncing: fraud. It’s a dictatorship that closes all doors to an institutional and democratic life of its people.”
The president of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, also considered the decision of the Supreme Court “unacceptable,” without an “exhaustive and independent” review of the votes. He “deeply regretted the decision of the Government of Venezuela to advance in the ratification of electoral results that do not reflect the will of the Venezuelan people.”
Bernardo Arévalo de León, for his part, insisted that Guatemala does not accept the electoral “fraud” perpetrated by Nicolás Maduro’s regime. “The crisis in Venezuela is indisputable, and we have already said that the recent elections only demonstrate that the Maduro regime is not democratic, and we do not recognize his fraud,” said the president in a message on social network X.
The opposition leader of Venezuela, María Corina Machado, thanked Boric and Lacalle Pou, respectively, on Thursday, for their positions on the ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice. “President Lacalle, we are deeply grateful for your solidarity and support to the Venezuelan people,” wrote Machado in a message in response to the Uruguayan president on X. The former deputy said that Venezuelans will move forward with “strength and conviction,” to ensure that “popular sovereignty” is respected.
She also applauded the position of the Chilean president, who said, “We will respect the will of Venezuelans. We are counting on you.”
Other political figures in the region have also denounced the TSJ’s biased ruling. Former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, 2016 Nobel Peace Prize winner, called the decision an “obstruction.” Iván Duque, who led a “diplomatic siege” against the Maduro government between 2018 and 2022, said that the ruling was “a blow to the Venezuelan people. The ruling of the Supreme Court of Venezuela is a hoax. Colombia cannot, nor should it, endorse the ruling, as we told Chancellor (Luis Gilberto) Murillo yesterday in the Advisory Commission on Foreign Relations,” said Santos, who ruled the Andean country between 2010 and 2018, in a message published on X.
For his part, Duque stated that “what the dictator hopes now is that, based on that opinion, which has no sustenance or support but validates the National Electoral Council, which helped him steal the elections, several sympathizing countries in the international community will come out to recognize him as the legitimate president.”
Likewise, the opposition Nicaraguan Democratic Concertación (CDN-Monteverde) rejected “the attempt of Nicolás Maduro’s regime to legitimize electoral fraud, through a resolution of the Electoral Chamber of the TSJ of Venezuela, which also aims to legalize the coup d’état against the popular sovereignty of the people that was expressed at the polls on July 28, with a majority in favor of Edmundo González Urrutia.”
At the moment, the Governments of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, close to Maduro, have not spoken out
At the moment, the Governments of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, close to Maduro, have not spoken out. They have offered to mediate to find a peaceful way out of the crisis. Last week, the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, hardened his speech and proposed two solutions: the formation of a coalition government that integrates members of chavismo and the opposition, or the holding of new elections, which were rejected by both parties. The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, suggested a “national front” as a “transitory” step towards a “definitive solution” to the crisis.
On the other hand, there were two countries that celebrated: Nicaragua and Cuba. Daniel Ortega congratulated his ally and said that it was a “historic day in Venezuela, because today the victory of the people of (Simón) Bolívar, the people of (Hugo) Chávez, the people of Nicolás Maduro has been confirmed.”
The Government of Cuba also described the TSJ’s decision as a “victory” on Thursday. “The ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela confirmed the victory of the Bolivarian and Chavista Revolution and the re-election of Nicolás Maduro as president,” the Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, wrote on X. “The decisions of Venezuelan institutions must be respected, and interference in Venezuela must cease,” he stressed.
The ruling, with which the review of the elections concludes in an “unequivocal and unrestricted” way, according to the text, comes 22 days after Maduro himself requested the process, through an appeal for “amparo” (a protection order) that never became known and for which the 10 former presidential candidates were summoned to the TSJ.
Cuba, Venezuela’s political ally, was one of the first countries to recognize Maduro’s triumph decreed by the CNE, despite protests against this result.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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