Medellín, Colombia – Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who had mostly remained silent following the disputed July presidential elections in Venezuela, has spoken out, stating that they were not free, “because there are no free elections under lockdowns.” Additionally, the president also admitted that Colombia does not recognize the validity of the elections.
Petro’s message about Colombia’s neighbor came on January 8, two days before President Nicolás Maduro is set to be sworn in as President of Venezuela for his third consecutive six-year term.
Image Source: Amnistía Internacional via X.
Through it, Petro also explained that he will not be attending the January 10 swearing-in ceremony because of the recent arrest of Carlos Correa. Correa is a human rights activist who, as per Amnesty International, was intercepted on January 7 in Caracas by masked government officials and detained. The activist’s whereabouts remain unknown.
However, the president will not suspend diplomatic relations with Venezuela.
“Colombia will not break diplomatic relations with Venezuela, nor will it intervene in the internal affairs of that country without being invited [to do so]. But we do request, from our own fight for human rights in Colombia, that everyone be respected in Venezuela,” Petro stated on X.
Regardless, Milton Rengifo, ambassador of Colombia in Venezuela, will be in attendance at the ceremony, as he confirmed to Colombian newspaper El Tiempo in an interview.
Image Source: Colombian Embassy in Venezuela via X.
“We believe that not attending will close the doors of a dialogue that, going forward, can contribute to transforming the internal conflict in Venezuela,” ambassador Rengifo told the newspaper.
Edmundo González Urrutia, the opposition leader who ran against Maduro, said he will also be in attendance at the January 10 ceremony, where he claims he will be sworn in instead of Maduro. “I will be in Venezuela on January 10 for the inauguration. I will not lead my country from exile,” he asserted in a December interview with newspaper El País.
Chaotic elections: Venezuela on July 28
In the run-up to the elections, the government of incumbent Nicolás Maduro allegedly participated in negotiations with the opposition to guarantee free and fair elections. Regardless, opposition leader María Corina Machado, who had received a 92.5% majority vote in the opposition’s primary elections, was banned from running for office by Venezuela’s Supreme Court.
After Machado’s disqualification, the opposition coalition named Edmundo Gonzáles, a 75-year-old diplomat, as their alternative candidate.
Image Source: Creative Commons Licenses
After a relatively peaceful voting day, the Maduro-allied National Electoral Council (CNE) announced Maduro as the winner, with 51.2% of the votes.
The opposition, however, announced its own results, which they obtained through thousands of poll watchers stationed at voting booths. The opposition’s voting tally sheets, called “actas,” showed that González Urrutia won the election with 7.4 million votes (67%) while Maduro obtained 3.3 million votes (30%).
Following this, violent protests sparked throughout Venezuela, which were met with harsh repression from Maduro’s regime.
Read more: Protests grow in Venezuela over disputed election results
Since the elections, González Urrutia fled to Spain, from where he has traveled across Europe urging leaders to recognize his victory. Closing in on the January inauguration, however, the former candidate has also been traveling around the Americas, visiting Argentina, Uruguay, Washington DC and Panama.
On January 7, González Urrutia announced that his son-in-law, Rafael Tudares, was kidnapped by masked men while he walked to his kids’ school. To date, Tudares remains missing.
What could happen on January 10?
Ever since the elections, both Maduro and González Urrutia have sought the support of the international community in legitimizing their mandates. The countries that recognize Maduro’s presidency include Russia, China, Iran, Cuba, and Bolivia, while González Urrutia is backed by Chile, the United States, Argentina, and the European Union, among others.
Both incumbent Maduro and opposition leader González Urrutia claim that they will be sworn into office on January 10. However, with the available information it is difficult to assert that the opposition leader will succeed in his claim to the president’s office, as El País noted.
Regardless, González Urrutia’s tour around the world and talks with important global leaders are putting pressure on Maduro’s regime.
The post “Venezuela’s elections were not free”: Colombian President Petro appeared first on Latin America Reports.
