2024-01-30 14:16:57
The Government of the Republic advocated that the participation of the Venezuelan opposition member María Corina Machado be allowed in the elections that will be held this year in the South American nation.
The above after the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), with pro-government lines, last Friday disqualified the winner of the primary elections. In practice, the court ruling makes the former deputy (2011-2014) ineligible to participate in voting for the next 15 years; although Machado refused on Monday to renounce her candidacy.
“Costa Rica, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic, member countries of the Alliance for Development in Democracy (ADD), reiterate their rejection of this measure that threatens the holding of free, transparent elections with full guarantees for all Venezuelan actors.
“The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected, and the participation of the person elected by the majority of its citizens must be ensured in the primaries of October 22, 2023,” emerges from a statement circulated on Monday night.
The founder of the Vente Venezuela Party swept the primaries with 92% of the vote, equivalent to the vote of almost three million people.
“I represent that greater popular sovereignty. They cannot hold elections without me,” he declared on Monday before his followers, while ruling out appointing a substitute.
In the joint statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship (MREC) also expressed its rejection of the 15-year disqualification imposed on fellow opposition member Henrique Capriles.
“At the same time, the Venezuelan government is urged to comply with its obligations derived from the Inter-American Democratic Charter, and to act in line with the objectives of the Barbados Agreement (on the political rights of Venezuelans), reversing the banning of candidates.
“Costa Rica, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic emphatically call for the Venezuelan government to guarantee free, transparent and participatory elections, with supervision of international organizations, without exclusion of opposition candidates and in a climate of peace, free of reprisals,” it continues. the note.
Only on Monday, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury announced that it reimposed sanctions on the state-owned Minerven after the ruling.
This by giving until February 13 to “settle any transaction” pending with the gold mining company.
The Supreme Court made the decision within a mechanism created under pressure from the United States so that disqualified candidates could challenge the sanction, in the midst of the agreements signed in Barbados, by the government and opposition, in a negotiation process mediated by Norway.
These agreements also include the holding of presidential elections in the second half of the year – still undated – with the observation of the European Union (EU) and other actors.
President Nicolás Maduro, in power since 2013, appears as a natural candidate for re-election.
Political disqualifications are an old weapon of Chavismo against its rivals. They are imposed by the Comptroller’s Office, empowered by law to take measures against officials under investigation, although the Constitution establishes that only a “definitively firm” judicial ruling prevents aspiring to the Presidency.
Following the court’s decision, the United States indicated this Monday that it is analyzing reinstating sanctions.
“We have options regarding sanctions,” said White House spokesman John Kirby, who recalled that a partial lifting of the United States embargo on Venezuelan oil, gas and gold expires in April.
The European Union, for its part, was also “very concerned” about the decision of the highest court, which “prevents members of the opposition from exercising their fundamental political rights” and does nothing but “undermine democracy and the State.” of Law”.
“Alternate ambassador”
Machado was disqualified for a year in 2015 for attending as Panama’s “alternate ambassador” to a meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS), where she denounced alleged human rights violations during protests that year calling for “the departure” of Nicolás. Maduro and left 40 dead.
But the sanction was extended to 15 years last June, at the height of his primary campaign.
The Political-Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court validated the arguments of the Comptroller’s Office to sanction the 56-year-old liberal politician for being a “participant in the corruption plot”, linked to the leader Juan Guaidó, recognized as president by the United States between 2019 and 2023 with management of resources blocked abroad.
Machado, who denies the accusations, also maintains that she “never” was notified of the administrative act and was unable to defend herself.
The opposition delegation at the negotiating table demanded on Saturday that the decision be reversed, and announced that it would denounce the situation to Norway, as well as to governments involved in the dialogue process.
From the other side, Chavismo turned the page on the most visible face of the opposition today.
“This is a matter of judgment and a definitively firm decision, that’s it!” said the president on Monday during his weekly program Con Maduro.
“They were a group, I think nine opposition leaders with disqualification problems (…) put their resources in, freely and voluntarily, no one forced them, I did not force any of them to go to the room,” the president stressed, recalling that The review of debarments arose from the Barbados Agreement.
The important Chavista leader, Diosdado Cabello, guaranteed on Monday “free, transparent, credible, universal, direct and secret elections, without the presence of the United States, without the presence of the Organization of American States.”
The dialogue between the government and the opposition began in August 2021 and was paralyzed twice, before the signing of the Agreement in Barbados. Neither party has expressed any intention to leave the table for now.
#Costa #Rica #asks #Venezuela #guarantee #opposition #participation #elections