Mexico has further distanced itself from the United States over the crisis surrounding the Venezuelan elections. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Friday criticized the U.S. State Department’s support for Edmundo González, the opposition candidate to Chavismo, even though the results of the vote are still uncertain. “It does not help resolve things. I say this with all due respect. It is reckless,” the president said at a press conference. He also lashed out at the Organization of American States (OAS), which accused the government of Nicolás Maduro, who is running for reelection, of having orchestrated fraud without evidence. “What the OAS is doing about Venezuela is a disgrace,” he said. López Obrador has asked international actors to make “an effort for conciliation” and wait for the electoral authorities in the Andean country — controlled by the ruling party — to review the votes and the minutes and issue the results of the count.
The Mexican president has referred directly to Antony Blinken, head of the US State Department, who on Thursday issued a statement stating that, “given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States and, more importantly, to the Venezuelan people, that Edmundo González Urrutia won the majority of votes in the presidential elections of July 28.” “With all due respect,” López Obrador commented, “what they did from the State Department is excessive. I apologize to Mr. Blinken, but that is not their responsibility, they are overstepping their bounds. This does not help peaceful coexistence, harmony in nations.” The Mexican president has questioned the role that the US wants to arrogate to itself as guardian of other nations. “What is the basis? Who authorizes it to pronounce in favor of a candidate, if the minutes have not yet appeared?” he asked. “Recognition is not given by a foreign country, but by the sovereignty of a people,” he said.
López Obrador said that the coalition of Latin American leftist powers made up of Mexico, Brazil and Colombia to seek a solution to the Venezuelan conflict considers it necessary to carry out a transparent review of the vote. “It is not enough to make proclamations saying that victory was achieved,” he said. The president commented that his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, said that the statement issued on Thursday by the coalition was not sufficient to reach a peaceful solution to the conflict. Therefore, the three presidents – including the Brazilian Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – agreed to instruct their respective foreign ministers to form a permanent observation table to follow up and propose diplomatic solutions.
The Mexican president has insisted, on behalf of the three Latin American governments, that there be no “interventionism” in Venezuela from abroad. “No government is authorized; it is not legal, legitimate, to issue a ruling declaring a candidate from another country the winner,” he said. “What is that? If there is no world government, that has nothing to do with democracy or with respect for freedom, for the sovereignty of peoples. Hopefully, instead of promoting confrontation, we all act responsibly, that we limit ourselves and that the sovereignty of the people of Venezuela is respected,” he asked.
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