US warns Maduro of greater international pressure if he arrests opponents

Washington. The United States ambassador to the OAS, Francisco Mora, warned Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Thursday that he would face international pressure “that he could not imagine” if he arrested opposition leaders María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia.

“If Maduro decides to do that, he will activate the international community in ways he could not have imagined, and I think his efforts to fracture and divide the international community will have failed miserably,” the ambassador to the Organization of American States told the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank.

“I think it would be a step that could further mobilize the international community, even those who are somewhat sympathetic and don’t want to stir things up too much in Venezuela,” Mora said.

The ambassador warned that the United States could be expected to present a strong draft resolution at the OAS if Maduro detains the two opponents.

The United States, the European Union and Latin American countries such as Argentina, Peru, Ecuador and Uruguay believe that González Urrutia won the election, and even many allied governments of Maduro, such as Brazil, have asked him to hand over the voting records.

The Venezuelan president has requested the arrest of González Urrutia and Machado, and has also gone to the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), accused of serving Chavismo, to certify his victory, through a process that academics and political leaders consider inappropriate.

González Urrutia, representative of the disqualified leader Machado, defied the TSJ’s summons on Wednesday. The leader claims that there was fraud and claims to have evidence proving that he won the elections.

The opposition has published on a website copies of more than 80 percent of the minutes that it claims prove its victory. Chavismo dismisses the validity of these documents.

The Biden administration has not yet taken any concrete measures against Caracas, while the governments of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico are seeking to mediate a solution to the crisis in Venezuela.

Washington wants to give the three countries “space and opportunity to work and find a way forward” in this context, Mora said.

But he insisted that Venezuela is a priority for the United States: “We will not abandon the Venezuelan people,” he said.

“We will not simply say ‘we are tired (…) we are distracted, we will find a way out of this that does not take into account the Venezuelan people and the democratic forces in Venezuela’. We will not do that,” said the ambassador.