Incumbent President Nicolás Maduro, who has ruled Venezuela since 2013 despite challenges to his claim on power, declared victory following the presidential election there on 28 July. He garnered 51.2% of the vote, according to CNE, the country’s electoral board that backed his hold on the office.
Few are buying that tally, least of all the opposition. Other counts, published online, show that Maduro’s opponent, Edmundo González, won with 67% of the vote. Both sides say the other’s claims are based on fraud. Civil unrest has broken out as a result of the disputed election.
In an informal meeting last week, EU foreign ministers rejected Maduro’s self-proclaimed victory. Lacking consensus, however, they did not go as far as to recognise González.
That’s not good enough for Nelson Dordelly Rosales, who volunteers as a special advisor on EU affairs for the Venezuelan opposition group, Plataforma Unitaria Democrática. He talked to The Parliament about the current situation.
What is the latest, more than a month after the vote?
After the 28th of July, the [opposition] Venezuelan Democratic Forces provided evidence that they [had] won the election: 70% voted for Edmundo González and 30% roughly voted for Maduro. They have the tallies, which is the evidence that is provided by the machines. In Venezuela, we vote in electronic machines, and they provide copies of the actual results. And these tallies have been provided to the opposition and to the now de facto authorities.
The tallies are very [clearly] saying that Edmundo won, and these have been certified by two organisations that were on the ground, which is the Carter Center who was an observer invited by the CNE, the electoral board, and also the UN panel of experts. And they provided that report.
Normally this report is not public. It's always only provided to the government in order to support improvements in the electoral system. But because it was so obvious in this case [that] the de facto authorities stole the election, they published this report, which is very [clearly] saying that these elections were not free or fair, that the results that the Democratic Forces provided are legit and the results that Maduro proclaims are completely false.
How has the Maduro regime responded?
It is pretty much a dictatorship right now. The moment that [Maduro] got sworn in by the CNE and proclaimed himself as president, then immediately protests started happening. There are statues of Hugo Chávez, former president of Venezuela, they were taking down. People were really angry on the streets. And then we had seen a brutal crackdown of this protest.
More than 1,500 people have been arrested, a hundred kids, little boys from the age of 9-to-16 [have] been arrested — and they have been moved to actual high-level security prisons, which is something that everyone is very concerned about. Just two days ago, at least 50 of them have been released. And when they were interviewed, they said that they were tortured and that they were really in terrible conditions beside criminals that have been convicted of murder.
The regime has also cracked down [on] social media because the Venezuelan media is pretty much controlled by the regime. There's no access to the news on television or radio. More than 100 radio stations are being shut down. So the only way the Venezuelans get the information is through social media and mostly on X or Instagram. But X is the one that they mostly use to get the news. The regime even said they are going to suspend and even blocked it.
Maduro said in a speech that he was going to delete WhatsApp. So what we see now is that police officers on the street and military officers, security forces in general, are stopping people and checking their phones and then see if they are sending messages against the regime.
How do you view the decision by EU foreign ministers to recognize neither candidate?
Well, we have to be clear that the FAC [EU Foreign Affairs Council] was an informal meeting, meaning that the foreign affairs ministers were there to get [briefed] about the situation and to try to understand what is the position from each member state.
And the EU doesn't recognise Maduro since the last election. So there's not really any difference from that. What I see is that is the EU since August [has] been very clear on asking for the evidence, which is the right approach.
Why do you think the US has recognised González and not the EU?
The US is very clear that, and I think that that should be the case of the EU moving forward, the tallies [used] reference the UN panel of experts and the Carter Center saying, well, the evidence is very clear that Edmundo González won the election. So I think that that should be the case for the EU. Just call it as it is.
Should the EU consider adding to the sanctions it already has against Venezuela?
In the EU, the sanctions are on human rights issues, and they are individual sanctions. They are not economic. So in the case of the EU, there are right now 55 individuals who have been sanctioned over the years because of their violation of human rights, and [there is] very clear evidence.
A tool that the EU can use is to increase the number of people being sanctioned. In the US right now, there have been talks about sanctioning way more individuals — at least 10 or 15 more people — so it could be replicated here in the EU to sanction ten more people or even more. But at the same time, the issue with sanctions is that it takes a lot of time for the EU to do it. They have a process in the Council to set up the evidence.
What else could the EU do?
You can also have [an] incentive. So one of the [incentives] — it [has] been done in the past, in the case of Belarus, for instance — where you can create a fund, a financial incentive. But it's linked to the fact that once Edmundo González is actually sworn in as president, this fund will be provided to support the reconstruction of the country, to support the reconstruction of democratic institutions.
So right now, Maduro keeps saying to the military, if the opposition takes over, there's going to be chaos. I think to actually change the narrative, the EU could be providing this type of incentive and saying that actually, no, if Edmundo takes power, he's going to get supported. But another option that the EU [hasn’t] used yet is to name a special representative for Venezuela, so [a] special envoy.
Last other option, which [is] being done for Belarus: To create this friendship group. So create more [of] a united front from the international community. So far you see the US doing something, the EU doing something, in Canada and so on, but maybe a coordinated effort between all the member states can send a strong signal to the regime that the international community is actually very much united on this topic.
What are your main demands of EU foreign ministers?
One, call Edmundo the winner of the election. The second one, increase the pressure on the regime, not only sanctions but all the [types] of pressure. And really being bold, not just you give a statement and then you forget about the situation. Actually being bold. Those are the demands in a nutshell that we can [ask] at this point.
This article has been edited for length and clarity.