Edmundo González defies Venezuelan Supreme Court summons

Caracas. Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia on Wednesday defied a Supreme Court summons as part of a process called to “certify” the disputed presidential election in which President Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner.

González, representative of the disqualified leader María Corina Machado, denounced fraud and claims to have evidence proving that she won the July 28 elections.

“If I go to the Electoral Chamber in these conditions, I will be in absolute vulnerability due to defenselessness and violation of due process, and I will put at risk not only my freedom but, more importantly, the will of the Venezuelan people expressed on July 28,” the 74-year-old opposition leader stressed in a statement released on social media.

Maduro went to the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), accused of serving Chavismo, to ask it to “certify” the election through a process that academics and political leaders consider inappropriate.

González already missed a first hearing called with all the candidates.

Maduro “has publicly stated (…) that if I do not appear I will incur legal liability, and that if I appear and submit copies of the voting records, there will also be serious criminal liability. Is this an impartial procedure that respects due process? Am I condemned in advance?”

The court also warned of “consequences” for any violation. Maduro was summoned for Friday.

“Respect for the majority’s expression”

The National Electoral Council (CNE) – also accused of having an official line – declared Maduro the winner with 52 percent of the votes, although it has not yet presented the details of the vote count, claiming to have been the victim of a computer hack.

Maduro’s proclamation sparked nationwide protests that left at least 24 people dead, according to a report released Tuesday by human rights organizations.

Maduro has said that there are more than 2,200 detainees, who will be transferred to two maximum security prisons.

The opposition has rejected the result, as has the United States, the European Union and Latin American countries such as Chile, whose president Gabriel Boric said on Wednesday that he had no doubt that Maduro was trying to “commit fraud.”

“Otherwise, they would have shown the famous minutes. Why didn’t they do it? If they had won, they would clearly have shown the minutes,” Boric said in a statement at the La Moneda palace.

Other representatives of the opposition coalition did heed the call of the TSJ: the governor of the state of Zulia, Manuel Rosales, a former rival of the late president Hugo Chávez and representative of the Un Nuevo Tiempo party; and José Luis Cartaya, of the MUD party, Mesa de la Unidad Democrática, which was later replaced by the current Plataforma Unitaria.

“We came to attend the summons of the Electoral Chamber and we will be wherever necessary until we achieve that respect for the majority expression of the people becomes a reality,” Rosales wrote on the social network X.

State television broadcast images of the hearing, which Rosales attended accompanied by two lawyers, and then that of Cartaya.

“The purpose of the hearing (…) is to receive the electoral instruments that are in the possession of the political organizations and the candidates, as well as to answer the questions posed by the magistrates of the electoral chamber,” said the secretary of the TSJ at the beginning of the hearing, which was later private.

“Usurpation of functions”

González Urrutia pointed out that the TSJ “cannot usurp the constitutional functions of the Electoral Power and “certify results that have not yet been produced.”

CNE President Elvis Amoroso said on Monday that he had submitted all documentation related to the election, although he did not make it public amid international pressure for a transparent vote count.

The opposition published on a website copies of more than 80 percent of the minutes that they claim prove González Urrutia’s victory, with 67 percent of the votes.

Chavismo also claims to have evidence of its victory.