September 19, 2024
(press release)
–
The EU should do its utmost to ensure that Edmundo González Urrutia, the legitimate and democratically elected President of Venezuela, can take office on 10 January 2025. In a resolution adopted on Thursday 19 September by 309 votes in favour, 201 against and 12 abstentions, Parliament “strongly condemns and fully rejects the electoral fraud orchestrated by the regime-controlled National Electoral Council, which refused to make public the official result.” MEPs recognise Edmundo González Urrutia as the country’s legitimate and democratically elected president, and María Corina Machado as the leader of the democratic forces in Venezuela. They also strongly condemn the Venezuelan Government’s issuance of an arrest warrant for Mr González. MEPs highlight that despite repeated calls from the international community, the Venezuelan regime has failed to respect the 2023 Barbados Agreement between the Maduro government and the opposition in relation to the presidential election, making a free and fair election impossible. MEPs note that reports from international election observation missions clearly state that the Venezuelan presidential election of 28 July 2024 did not meet international standards of electoral integrity. They also condemn in the strongest possible terms the murders, harassment, violations and arrests perpetrated against the democratic opposition, the Venezuelan people, and civil society, calling for an end to systematic human rights violations. Parliament urges the EU to reinstate sanctions against the members of the National Electoral Council. It calls for the prolongation of regime sanctions and for expanding their scope to apply targeted sanctions through the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime against Nicolás Maduro and his inner circle. MEPs welcome the role that the governments of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico are playing and urge regional actors and the international community to exert maximum pressure on Maduro’s regime and his inner circle to accept the democratic will of the Venezuelan people, recognising Edmundo González Urrutia as the legitimate and democratically elected President. If this does not happen, Parliament warns that a renewed migratory exodus to other countries in the region will follow, similar to that which has led close to eight million Venezuelans to flee the country in recent years.
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