Biden-Harris Administration refuses to recognize Edmundo Gonzalez as president and calls for a peaceful transition in Venezuela

The United States ruled out Monday recognizing Edmundo Gonzalez as the president of Venezuela. It does again consider the Venezuelan opposition leader, who contested the elections in cooperation with María Corina Machada, as the winner of the elections. 

In a State Department press conference, spokesman Matthew Miller assured that the Biden Administration previously ruled out the same type of proceeding with Juan Guaidó in 2019, and at this moment, it does not recognize Edmundo González as president of Venezuela. The State Department took the opportunity to again call publicly for a peaceful democratic transition in Venezuela. 

"We continue to urge the Venezuelan parties to begin talks on a peaceful transition back to democratic norms," Matthew Miller told the press. Statements that the Maduro regime denounced as "evidence" that the White House "is at the forefront" of an attempted coup d'état.

"We continue to call for transparency and the release of detailed vote tallies, although we concede that it has been more than a week since the election and a release of those votes would require close scrutiny, given the potential for manipulation or tampering in that time frame," Miller added.

Meanwhile, in Venezuela, the Maduro regime continues with a strong repression against the protests called by the opposition across the country. Human rights organizations report at least twenty deaths since the beginning of protests and politically motivated arrests are at an all-time high.

Chavista Prosecutor's Office opens criminal investigation against opposition members

The Venezuelan Prosecutor's Office, headed by chavista Tarek William Saab, opened this Monday a criminal investigation against opposition leaders María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia. 

The reason alleged by the Chavista regime for investigating their opponents is the opposition's calls to the military to demonstrate against the electoral results announced by the Maduro regime after the July 28 elections. 

However, the military remained loyal to the Chavista regime and the high command of the Armed Forces expressed its "unconditional support" and "absolute loyalty" to Nicolás Maduro, as reported by AFP. 

Electoral authority hands over the tally sheets

More than two weeks after the elections in Venezuela were held, the electoral authority of the Maduro regime delivered the minutes of the elections to the Supreme Court. 

Following the delivery of the minutes, leader Nicolás Maduro asked the Justice to "certify" the result of the elections of last Sunday 28. "Everything requested by the highest Court of the Republic is consigned," said Amoroso, head of the National Electoral Council (CNE), in the hearing without giving further details. Both the CNE and the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) are accused by the opposition of serving the ruling Chavismo.

The delivery of the minutes was a demand of the opposition and the international community since the election results were questioned. However, as assured by State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, the delay in the delivery of the tally sheets implies that there could be a falsification of these. 

"It has been more than a week since the election and any release of those votes would require close scrutiny, given the potential for manipulation in that time period."