The G7 countries criticized Venezuela this Friday for withdrawing its invitation to the European Union (EU) to observe the presidential elections on July 28 and they asked for guarantees for the opposition, according to a draft of the final declaration of the group’s summit in Italy, which Caracas rejected.
“We are deeply concerned (…) regarding the rights of the opposition within the electoral process and the decision to withdraw the invitation for an EU electoral observation mission,” says the G7 in the document seen by AFP. access.
The statement was criticized by the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, although supported by the main opposition leader Maria Corina Machadowho could not attend the elections due to disqualification but who uses his popularity to support his replacement, the diplomat Edmundo González.
Nicolás Maduro.
Photo:Courtesy Presidential Press
“The decadent imperialism has never had such poor and ridiculous leadership as that which the G7 exhibits today. Rejected by their own people, they intend to resort to colonial practices and get involved in matters that do not concern them,” said the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Yván Gil, in the social network
Machado, meanwhile, thanked the group of the seven largest industrialized economies for their “unequivocal support for democracy and free and fair elections” in Venezuela.
In May, the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE), with a pro-government line, announced its decision to exclude the EU observation mission from the July electoral process, in which President Nicolás Maduro will seek a third term.
The CNE’s decision was adopted after the European bloc ratified individual sanctions against some 50 officials, denouncing a “hostile attitude.”
The G7, which brings together Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, also asked Caracas to guarantee “competitive and inclusive elections,” as well as “an end to harassment of opposition members and the liberation of all political prisoners”.
Leaders, among other world leaders, hold the group’s annual summit in Borgo Egnazia, a luxury resort in the Apulia region of southern Italy.
María Corina Machado and Edmundo González.
Photo:AFP
Nicolás Maduro rejects the G7 statements
The Government of Venezuela rejected this Friday the statement of the leaders of the G7 -Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom-, in which they asked the authorities of the Caribbean country to allow international observation in the presidential elections of the July 28 and respect the rights of the opposition.
“The decadent imperialism has never had such poor and ridiculous leadership as that which the G7 exhibits today. Rejected by their own people, they intend to resort to colonial practices and get involved in matters that do not concern them,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela, Yván Gil.
The response from Nicolás Maduro’s Executive comes hours after the G7 published its declaration -after the summit held in Italy-, in which they demanded “the end of the harassment of members of the opposition and the immediate release of all political prisoners”.
“Our revolutionary democracy will tell you this July 28, again, that we are free and sovereign and that its lackeys (in reference to the opposition grouped in the Democratic Unitary Platform, PUD) will not return,” added the chancellor.
In the summit declaration, the group of the most industrialized democracies on the planet expressed their concern “over the lack of progress in the implementation of the Barbados Agreement”, a pact of electoral guarantees signed by the Government and the PUD last October.
Specifically, their concern is “with regard to the rights of the opposition within the electoral process and the decision to withdraw the invitation for an electoral observation mission” from the European Union (EU), something that had been agreed in Barbados and it has been breached.
This statement was celebrated by opposition leader María Corina Machado – who supports the PUD candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia -, who described it as “unequivocal support” for democracy.
