The US recognizes Edmundo Gonzalez as president-elect and announces its willingness to promote a transition in Venezuela

On Thursday, the United States issued a statement congratulating Edmundo González Urrutia on his success in Venezuela's presidential election held on July 28 and highlighted its willingness to advance the transition process alongside their international allies.

In the text, U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken applauded the massive turnout of more than 12 million Venezuelans who exercised their right to vote despite significant challenges, and assured that the government of the United States "fully support the process of re-establishing democratic norms in Venezuela."

Blinken criticized the management of the electoral process by the National Electoral Council (CNE), controlled by Nicolás Maduro, and denounced that the proclamation of Maduro as winner lacks solid evidence, since the CNE has not published the disaggregated data nor the tally sheets.

"As the independent Carter Center’s observation mission reported, the CNE’s failure to provide the precinct-level official results, as well as irregularities throughout the process, have stripped the CNE’s announced outcome of any credibility," Blinken stated.

Likewise, he highlighted that, in contrast, the opposition published more than 80% of the voting records from all Venezuela, which evidence that Edmundo González Urrutia "received the most votes in this election by an insurmountable margin."

"Independent observers have corroborated these facts, and this outcome was also supported by election day exit polls and quick counts," he added.

Blinken also stated that, after the elections, he was able to consult "widely with partners and allies around the world" and that none believe that Nicolas Maduro received the majority of votes in these elections.

Given all of the above, the Secretary of State informed that for the United States "Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election."

In addition, the United States rejected Maduro's unfounded accusations against opposition leaders such as González Urrutia and María Corina Machado, describing the threats of arrest as an anti-democratic attempt to suppress political participation and maintain power. Blinken demanded the immediate release of Venezuelans detained for exercising their democratic rights and warned against the use of security forces as a tool of political repression.

The secretary of state concluded the statement with a call to initiate talks among Venezuelan parties for a transition that respects the law and the wishes of the people, and reaffirmed his commitment to support the restoration of democracy in Venezuela.

"We fully support the process of re-establishing democratic norms in Venezuela and stand ready to consider ways to bolster it jointly with our international partners," he assured.

Maduro responds

Following the statement, the dictator urged the United States not to intervene in the affairs of the Latin American country. "The United States should get its nose out of Venezuela because the sovereign people are the ones in charge in Venezuela, the ones who put, who choose, who say, who decide," Maduro declared in a broadcast on the state-run VTV channel.

The dictator insisted that he was the real winner of the elections and justified the failure to publish the election results by alleging an alleged cyber attack on the CNE.