On July 28, Venezuelans went to the polls to decide who will lead the country for the next six years. The election was highly anticipated both by Venezuelans and outside observers, as Nicolas Maduro, who has held the office for the past eleven years, is highly unpopular. His opponent, Edmundo González Urrutia, is a 75-year-old former diplomat.
On July 28, both candidates claimed victory. The electoral authorities, loyal to the current President, declared Maduro the victor soon after the polls closed. However, they failed to publish results broken down by voting machine, as they had done in previous presidential elections.
Each of the 30,000 voting machines prints several copies of tally sheets that are considered to be the ultimate proof of election results in Venezuela. Adherents of Edmundo González obtained copies of tallies from 83.5 percent of the voting machines and declared that their candidate garnered 67 percent of the vote.
Utilizing the tried and effective tactics used by unpopular dictators for decades, Maduro and his government decided that since they could not defeat Edmundo Gonzales, they would arrest him instead. Having declared on August 22 that the vote tallies published by the opposition were fake, the Venezuelan Supreme Tribunal of Justice, every member a Maduro loyalist, certified Maduro’s victory. And on September 3, a Venezuelan judge issued an arrest warrant for Edmundo González Urrutia, accusing him of usurpation of functions, forgery of public documents, instigation to disobey laws, conspiracy, and “sabotage to damage systems.”
The United States strongly condemns this unjustified arrest warrant, said State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller.
“It’s not just the United States that’s condemning this arrest warrant. It’s countries in the region – Argentina, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay – who have all condemned this unjustified arrest warrant.”
“González Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election,” said Spokesperson Miller. “Maduro and his representatives cannot indefinitely suppress the legitimate aspirations of the Venezuelan people and maintain power by force.”
“The arbitrary and politically motivated action demonstrates the extraordinary lengths to which Nicolás Maduro will go to try and maintain power following his attempt to steal the July 28th presidential election,” he said.
“The will of the people and their rights must be respected,” said Spokesperson Miller. “We reiterate our call for the immediate and unconditional release of those who have been unjustly detained.”
