Venezuela’s socialist Maduro regime broke ties with seven Latin American countries after their governments questioned the results of Sunday’s sham presidential election and dictator Nicolás Maduro’s “victory.”
The decision forces the immediate withdrawal of the diplomatic representatives from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay from Venezuelan territory.
Venezuelan electoral authorities — controlled in their entirety by the ruling socialist regime — proclaimed Maduro the “winner” of Sunday’s sham election, claiming he had obtained 51.2 percent of the votes.
The Venezuelan opposition has contested the results and claimed it has evidence that their candidate, Edmundo González, obtained an overwhelming victory against the dictator. In addition to widespread suspicions that election authorities manipulated the numbers, Maduro handpicked the candidates on the ballot and ensured his own face appeared on it 13 times. Opposition members have also complained of violence against their campaign staff and the unlawful arrests of several dissidents, ensuring the election was far from free and fair.
Several countries have called the election’s results into question. The United States, the United Kingdom, Colombia, and the European Union have called for a transparent recount of the votes, while countries such as Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, and Ecuador have not recognized Maduro’s “victory” as legitimate.
Unlike previous sham elections in Venezuela, when it occurred almost immediately after the election was called, the Maduro regime has not released detailed records that show a breakdown of the election’s “results” on a voting-center-by-voting-center basis in each and every state at press time.
President Nicolas Maduro opens his arms alongside first lady Cilia Flores during his closing election campaign rally in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, July 25, 2024. Maduro is seeking re-election for a third term in the July 28 vote (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara).
The ruling socialists have also claimed that Venezuela’s electoral system — which they have repeatedly celebrated as the “best” in the world — was the target of an alleged hacking attempt that originated from North Macedonia and accused opposition leader María Corina Machado and other dissidents of being involved. Machado was the presidential frontrunner for much of the election season despite being banned from running for office.
The Maduro regime has not publicly provided proof that substantiates its accusations against Machado, nor has it publicly provided further details of the purported hacking attack from North Macedonia at press time.
The seven countries that Venezuela has now cut diplomatic ties with, together with Guatemala and Paraguay, signed a joint letter on Monday in which they expressed concerns with the Venezuelan sham election and demanded a “complete review” of its results.
The nine countries also called for an urgent meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) to address the situation. The Maduro regime had Venezuela withdraw itself from OAS in 2017.
The Maduro regime responded to the letter by issuing a statement in the afternoon hours of Monday, therein rejecting what it called “the interference of a group of right-wing governments, subordinated to Washington and openly committed to the most sordid ideological postulates of international fascism.” The purported group, according to the socialist regime, “seeks to ignore” the sham electoral results and Maduro’s “victory.”
The statement included Chile and Peru in that list, both run by left-wing presidents. In Chile, President Gabriel Boric – not accused of being part of a “right-wing” conspiracy – once described himself as “to the left of” the Communist Party.
“The Bolivarian Government will confront all actions that attempt against the climate of peace and coexistence that so many efforts have demanded from the Venezuelan people,” the Maduro regime statement concluded, “for which reason we are contrary to all the interfering and siege pronouncements with which, in a reiterated manner, attempts are made to disregard the will of the Venezuelan people.”
The Maduro regime’s decision to break ties with the seven Latin American countries complicates in particular the ongoing situation in the Argentine embassy in Caracas, where six Venezuelan dissidents remain sheltered from authoritarian repression since March.
The Maduro regime has accused the six dissidents of being part of unproven assassination plots against Maduro and other members of the regime. The Maduro regime has also repeatedly refused to grant safe passage to the six dissidents so that they can leave Venezuela to Argentina.
The Argentine news channel Todo Noticias reported on Monday that the government of President Javier Milei is holding negotiations with other countries to ensure the safety of the six dissidents following the withdrawal of Argentina’s diplomatic mission.
One of the options being explored, Todo Noticias stated, involves the 1954 Caracas Convention on diplomatic asylum, which details that an OAS member state could receive asylum seekers from another member country as part of its official representation, with Brazil being pointed as the most likely candidate to host the Venezuelan dissidents.
Chile’s far-left president, Gabriel Boric, responded to the expulsion of his country’s diplomats from Venezuela on social media, describing the Maduro regime’s arguments as “implausible” and stating that it shows a “deep intolerance of divergence.”
“In this case, we have done nothing more than to uphold what we believe to be correct: that the election results be transparent and verifiable by inspectors not committed to the current government through the full publication of the minutes,” Boric said. “As of this writing, this has not happened.”
“It is precisely the respect for the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people, and the effects that the forced diaspora of an important part of that people has provoked, which leads us to demand transparency,” he continued. “No subordination, no calculations. Principles.”
The recently inaugurated President of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, already announced that his country would suspend diplomatic ties to Venezuela prior to the Maduro regime’s announcement. Mulino stated that the suspension would last until the sham election’s results are reviewed.
“I take this decision out of respect for the history of Panama, for the millions of Venezuelans who chose our homeland to live in, and for my democratic convictions,” Mulino said. “I cannot allow my silence to become an accomplice.”
Similarly, the government of Peru announced in an official statement that its diplomatic staff in Caracas will leave Venezuela over the next 72 hours.
Dominican President Luis Abinader reportedly stated that he would also withdraw its diplomatic personnel from Venezuela and said his government will continue to evaluate the situation to “take appropriate measures.” Abinader reiterated his calls for an international verification of the sham election’s results.
A source from the Uruguayan government told AFP that the Maduro regime’s decision was untimely and unjustified “in the face of a legitimate concern raised by Uruguay about the electoral process.” The source pointed out that the Uruguayan government will decide over the next hours what will happen to its diplomatic personnel in Caracas.
A Costa Rican Foreign Ministry source told AFP that the country does not have any diplomatic representatives in Venezuela and, as a result, the Maduro regime’s announcement has “no practical effect.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.