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Pedro Urruchurtu: Citizens will make Maduro negotiate with Machado 3:21
(CNN Spanish) --
The National Electoral Council of Venezuela announced on Wednesday that the presidential elections will be held on July 28.
Once this news was known, a bipartisan group of four United States senators issued a joint statement in which they affirm that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro “is afraid” of confronting María Corina Machado in a “truly democratic” process.
In this statement, Republican senators Marco Rubio and Bill Cassidy and Democrats Dick Durbin and Ben Cardin recalled that the Government of Venezuela "has also arbitrarily arrested members of Machado's campaign team and continues to censor the independent press."
In addition, the statement mentions that Venezuela "arbitrarily determines who can or cannot run," in reference to the decision of the Supreme Court, announced at the end of last January to disqualify the candidacy of the opposition leader.
María Corina Machado accuses the Maduro Government of wanting to “ignore” the rights of Venezuelans after announcing the election date
“Venezuela's institutions are currently incapable – by design – of having free, fair and democratic elections,” the text of the statement indicates.
“María Corina Machado, whom the majority of voters in Venezuela's primaries chose as her candidate, is currently prohibited from running in the presidential election for the simple reason that Maduro is afraid to face her in a truly democratic process.
“He knows that Venezuelans overwhelmingly voted for her in her collective struggle to be able to have a life free of tyranny.”
In the joint statement, the senators urge the United States to reinstall sanctions against the government if the electoral process does not include Machado because, in their opinion, his exclusion does not respect the Barbados agreement reached in October.
This agreement between the Venezuelan government and representatives of the opposition, mediated by Norway, includes political and electoral guarantees for the presidential elections.
“Under the Barbados agreement, the United States should reimpose oil sanctions and refuse to recognize any electoral 'winner' of a process that excludes the opposition candidate democratically elected by the Venezuelan people, María Corina Machado,” maintains the statement.
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After the signing of the Barbados agreement in October, the US relaxed some of the sanctions imposed on the Venezuelan government under the understanding that it would respect the agreements to allow a democratic process in the country, one of them was General License 44 , which affects the Venezuelan oil sector.
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However, following Machado's disqualification in January, the United States government announced General License 44 would not be extended after April due to the actions of the Venezuelan government.
“The actions of Nicolás Maduro and his representatives in Venezuela, including the arrest of members of the opposition and the banning of candidates from competing in this year's presidential elections, are not consistent with the agreements signed in Barbados,” said the Department of State through a statement obtained then by CNN.
CNN sent an email this Thursday to the State Department to find out if its position regarding sanctions has changed after the announcement of the elections, with no response so far.
CNN also contacted the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry for the joint statement by the US senators and the Public Ministry for the accusation of arbitrary detentions and is awaiting a response.
ElectionsMarco RubioMaría Corina MachadoNicolás Maduro