The declaration was released in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, by the Dominican Minister of Foreign Affairs, Roberto Álvarez. It emphasizes that “any delay” in this verification, “preferably by an international entity to ensure respect for the will of the Venezuelan people expressed at the polls,” calls into question the officially published results.
The signatories of the declaration are Argentina, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, United States, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Italy, Morocco, Netherlands, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, United Kingdom, Suriname, Portugal, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and the European Union.
Venezuela, a country with a significant community of Portuguese and Portuguese descendants, held presidential elections on July 28, after which the National Electoral Council (CNE) attributed the victory to Maduro with just over 51% of the votes. Meanwhile, the opposition claims that their candidate, former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia, obtained almost 70% of the votes.
The Venezuelan opposition and several countries in the international community have denounced electoral fraud and demanded that voting records be presented for independent verification. The CNE claims this is unfeasible due to an alleged “cyberattack” it suffered.
The election results have been contested in the streets, with demonstrations repressed by security forces, resulting in about two thousand arrests and more than two dozen fatalities.
