Venezuela | Washington recognizes Edmundo González Urrutia as president-designate

(Washington) The outgoing US government of Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that it recognized Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as the country’s president-designate, which President Nicolas Maduro’s regime deemed “ridiculous”.

“The Venezuelan people spoke resoundingly on July 28 and made @EdmundoGU president-designate,” wrote the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken on the social network X.

“Democracy requires respect for the will of voters,” he added from Rio de Janeiro where he participated in the G20 summit alongside President Biden, who will leave power on January 20 to hand it over to the Republican president. elected Donald Trump.

Washington had not recognized Nicolas Maduro’s victory in the presidential election of July 28, of which he was proclaimed winner by the National Electoral Council and the Supreme Court – considered to be on the orders of those in power – to the great dismay of the opposition, which is crying to fraud and claims the victory of its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia.

The United States had claimed that the latter had won the greatest number of votes, but without ever having officially spoken of “president-elect”.

“We are deeply sensitive to the recognition of the sovereign will of all Venezuelans. This gesture honors the desire for change of our people and the civic gesture that we accomplished together on July 28,” rejoiced Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia, also on X.

Clandestinity

Since the contested re-election of President Maduro, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia has taken refuge in Spain and the leader of the opposition, Maria Corina Machado, lives in hiding.

In Rio on Monday, Antony Blinken met with several Latin American counterparts to discuss the situation in Venezuela, according to the State Department.

The reaction from Caracas was quick.

« Ridicule […] Blinken, an avowed enemy of Venezuela, insists on starting again [avec Gonzalez Urrutia] this time with a “Guaidó 2.0” supported by fascists and terrorists subordinate to American policy,” thundered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, referring to Juan Guaidó, self-proclaimed president in 2019 and then recognized as interim president by the United States. United.

“In the last days of his government, he [Blinken] should devote himself to reflecting on his failures […] and write memoirs on how the Bolivarian Revolution made him bite the dust of defeat, just like his predecessors”, attacked the Minister of Foreign Affairs Yvan Gil, accusing his American counterpart of “trying[er] to overthrow Venezuelan democracy.

Washington’s recognition comes in the midst of a transition of power between the Biden administration and that of President-elect Trump.

The 45^e and soon 47^e President of the United States appointed Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a son of Cuban immigrants, the first Hispanic to occupy the State Department and a supporter of a hard line against Venezuela and Cuba.

During his first term (2017-2021), Donald Trump imposed a policy of maximum pressure to try to oust President Maduro from power.

Neither the United States, nor the European Union, nor several Latin American countries recognize the election of Mr. Maduro, in power since 2013.