Former heads of government address the Venezuela crisis

A group of former heads of government from Spain and Latin America agreed this Thursday on the urgency of remaining vigilant against what Nicolás Maduro does, especially with the opposition leaders in Venezuela and the implications it could have in the region, which is already receiving a exodus of millions of Venezuelans.

The former heads of state who participated in the IX Presidential Dialogue, an annual forum that was held this Thursday in Miami, focused on the – which they consider – “electoral fraud” carried out in the presidential elections of last July 28, in which the authorities Venezuelan elections declared Maduro the winner, without until now having presented the results in a disaggregated manner.

The Venezuelan opposition majority has rejected the official results and, under the protection of electoral records that they made public, considers that its candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia (today exiled in Spain), was the winner and is the elected president of Venezuela, as well as highlight the former leaders gathered at Miami Dade College (MDC), headquarters of the event.

A “delinquent dictatorship” and the moment of truth

“On July 28, the entire world was able to verify that Nicolás Maduro’s word is worth even less than the devalued Bolívar,” said former Spanish head of government José María Aznar, for whom on election day “the sovereignty expressed in the vote “It was denied to the Venezuelan people by the delinquent dictatorship that usurps their government.”

“It was an electoral robbery, much more than an electoral fraud, because he lost due to a beating that is recognized with evidence and by world public opinion,” emphasized, for his part, former Ecuadorian president Jamil Mahuad in statements to EFE.

Mahuad pointed out that to remove a dictator like Maduro “bolted” to power, internal resistance is required like what the Venezuelan people are doing, “paying with blood for their bravery,” as well as with common action and in a single direction of the international community.

You cannot proclaim democracy and at the same time “take the opportunity to negotiate in search of national advantages,” criticized the former Ecuadorian president. “For some countries that has to change,” he added.

Along these lines, the former president of Costa Rica Miguel Ángel Rodríguez pointed out at the forum that developed countries have an enormous responsibility for what is happening in Venezuela, because their oil companies “buy from the regime and finance it.”

During a panel dedicated to Venezuela, former Mexican president Vicente Fox highlighted the role of opposition leader María Corina Machado, who through the Comando Con Vzla movement gathered “the evidence of the results” in the last elections and, in that sense , was of the opinion of developing “counterweights, countermeasures” to stop Maduro’s actions.

Through a video message, María Corina Machado said that they are in “the definitive hour” and addressed the international community: “The truth is that the entire world knows the crimes against humanity that the Maduro regime has committed. “The truth is that the world has to act, because we Venezuelans have done our part.”

Vigilant against what happens to Corina Machado in Venezuela

Also through a video message, the standard bearer of the opposition majority Edmundo González Urrutia asked that “sufficient democratic pressure be exerted so that the will of the Venezuelan people” expressed in the elections last July is fulfilled and that, for the opposition , this process should conclude with the assumption of command next January by this opposition leader.

“He is the elected president, he has all the legitimacy and legality to assume his position,” said Mahuad, who incidentally stressed that González Urrutia is a career diplomat and can use his experience abroad, from his asylum in Spain.

At today’s event, the Foreign Minister of Panama, Javier Martínez-Acha, warned that the countries of the region will not remain indifferent if something were to happen to Machado, who remains in Venezuela and not outside the country as sources from the Maduro government.

“Defending democracy is defending the future of our children,” said the Panamanian Foreign Minister, who urged the countries of America to “raise their voices and isolate the protagonists of Venezuelan tyranny with sanctions.”

The forum also brought together the former president of Ecuador Osvaldo Hurtado and his Bolivian counterpart Jorge Tuto Quiroga, as well as the president of the MDC, Madeleine Pumariega.

It served as the framework to present the Institute for Freedom in the Americas, an MDC initiative focused on fostering a culture of freedom, democracy and global governance.l.