Updated August 14, 2024
We forcefully denounce the political violence against the opposition in Venezuela and call for the immediate release of all arbitrarily detained persons, including Mr. Freddy Superlano, leader of the opposition party Voluntad Popular and former state governor, former governor of Merida and former member of parliament, Williams Dávila, and former members of parliament, Américo De Grazia and Dignora Hernández. Their whereabouts remain unknown.
The Chavista regime is persecuting citizens who have taken to the streets to protest and has called for the arrest of the main opposition leaders, resulting in deaths and terrible scenes of violence. The Argentine Embassy in Caracas, where, in addition to our representatives, there are Venezuelan opposition leaders in political asylum, was systematically besieged.
The people of Venezuela deserve to live in peace and freedom, and not at the mercy of a dictatorial regime. Their voice must be heard and their human rights respected. The international community cannot turn a deaf ear to the excesses of the Chavista dictatorship.
PGA Executive Board Member Dip. Margarita Stolbizer (Argentina)
On 28 of July, the Venezuelan people went to the polls to elect a president for a six-year term starting on 10 January 2025. The official opposition candidate, Mr. Edmundo González, ran against incumbent Nicolás Maduro who has been in power since 2013. Mr. González stood in for the popular leader of the opposition, María Corina Machado, who was barred from running by the Maduro regime.
The next day, the government-controlled National Electoral Council (NEC) in Venezuela declared that Nicolás Maduro had won against the opposition candidate by a 51% to 44% margin. No details have been released by the Electoral Council to explain the results, which were marred by irregularities and fraud. “The Carter Center cannot verify or corroborate the results of the election declared by the National Electoral Council (CNE), and the electoral authority’s failure to announce disaggregated results by polling station constitutes a serious breach of electoral principles.” Additionally, Maria Corina Machado commented that the opposition had 73.2% of the voting tallies to prove its victory. The tallies showed 2.75 million votes for Maduro and 6.27 million for former diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez.
The U.N. Secretary General sent an independent team of four experts to Caracas to monitor Venezuela’s recent presidential elections, which they deemed lacking in “basic transparency and integrity”. The panel of experts criticized Venezuela’s National Electoral Council for disregarding local rules and declaring Maduro the winner without tabulated results from each of the 30,000 polling booths, which “had no precedent in contemporary democratic elections.”
Given the severe irregularities of the presidential elections, the Venezuelan opposition and foreign leaders have refused to recognize Maduro’s victory, including Argentina’s president Milei, Chile’s president Boric, Costa Rica’s presidency, Ecuador’s president Noboa, El Salvador’s president Bukele, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell, Panama’s president Mulino, Peru’s Foreign Minister Gonzalez-Olaechea, Uruguay’s president Pou, and US Secretary of State Blinken.
Electoral results in favor of the authoritarian leader of Venezuela led to the eruption of deadly protests across the country Vladimir Padrino López, Defense Minister, deemed protesters “coup-plotters allied with foreign enemies of Venezuela and warned: We will take forceful action… to maintain internal order.” Maduro made similar threats on 30 July stating that he held opposition candidate González responsible for the situation in Venezuela. Recent reports are describing Maduro’s severe crackdown on the opposition. More than 2,400 people have been jailed and 24 killed. Experts report that this repressive operation - which authorities call Operación Tuntun (Operation Knock Knock) – is analogous to the political repression in China, where government opposition leaders regularly disappear into secret jails after getting a knock at the door.
What happened last July 28 in Venezuela cannot be called anything else, it was a disgusting fraud, a disgusting fraud that put an end to the dreams and yearnings of millions of Venezuelans who were waiting for a change and who saw in the electoral process the opportunity to return to the democratic path. The democrats of the world must be unanimously and unequivocally against what has happened in Venezuela in the last few days. Authoritarian governments are the only ones that have recognized the fraudulent results announced by the electoral authorities of the Venezuelan regime. We stand in solidarity with the people of Venezuela who came out massively to vote for a change and whose yearnings, their dreams, their votes were stolen by the narco-dictatorship, by a person who is wanted for his participation in drug trafficking and for whom there is a reward of 15 million dollars for information leading to his capture.
We also take advantage of this opportunity to demand that the regime make available to his family as soon as possible the Venezuelan opposition leader Freddy Superlano, who according to Diosdado Cabello is detained and talking, but who according to his wife has been detained for more than 72 hours without knowing anything about him. We demand that his physical integrity be respected, we demand that his life be respected. Maduro offered a bloodbath if he lost the elections and he is fulfilling it. I think that this is reason enough, the dozens of deaths in Venezuela, for the International Criminal Court to activate its mechanisms, its tools and issue an arrest warrant against Nicolás Maduro Moros for the crimes he is committing against the Venezuelan people. The international community and the democrats of the world must be on the side of the Venezuelan people and be willing to accompany the actions that we can take from our trenches to ensure respect for the will of the people and respect, above all things, for the lives of Venezuelans.
PGA Member Dip. Jorge Cálix (Honduras)
Non-governmental organization Provea made the following statement accompanied by footage: “Hooded Venezuelan state officials arbitrarily detained opposition leader Freddy Superlano and his nephew Renzo Salinas in Caracas. We demand an end to these crimes that are part of a systematic policy of persecution and repression. These detentions can lead to forced disappearances and cruel and inhumane treatment to force the victims to make statements, as has been denounced in the past by the UN Mission on Venezuela.”
On August 8th, Williams Dávila was arrested by unidentified individuals, allegedly members of the chavista regime, and is in a critical state at the hospital. The daughter of Américo De Grazia stated: “My father is officially missing.” On 20 March 2024, agents of the General Directorate of Counterintelligence in Caracas forcefully arrested former opposition legislator Dignora Hernández, who also serves as political secretary for Vente Venezuela. The same fate befell Henry Alviarez, national coordinator of the same political party, Vente Venezuela, led by María Corina Machado.
On 30 July, the Department of Electoral Cooperation and Observation of the Secretariat for Strengthening Democracy of the Organization of American States (OAS) issued a scathing report on the presidential elections in Venezuela. “The events of election night confirm the existence of a coordinated strategy, which has been unfolding over the last few months, to undermine the integrity of the electoral process. […] Since before Election Day, the presidential election had been characterized by a succession of arbitrary obstructions to the exercise of active and passive suffrage, in the form of illegal contrivances, intimidation, violence, detentions, expulsions, disqualifications, bureaucratic obstacles, electoral use of the state apparatus, and a long list of further obstacles to the free manifestation of the will of the people.”
Worldwide there has been a push for the recognition of González as the official president-elect of Venezuela. On 12 August, U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel stated: “Now is the time for the Venezuelan parties to begin discussions on a respectful and peaceful transition.” Member States of the Organization of American States did not agree on a cohesive response despite the electoral body’s observations of illegalities in the Venezuelan elections.
PGA continues monitoring the evolving situation and calls for respect of the will of the people expressed in their ballots, the immediate return of all opposition members and individuals who have been forcefully and arbitrarily detained, and the protection to the rights of integrity of life, freedom of expression, assembly and of association in accordance to Venezuela’s international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
