25 de agosto 2024
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The Public Prosecutor’s Office of Venezuela will summon “in the coming hours” the presidential candidate of the majority opposition, Edmundo Gonzalez, for a criminal investigation against him due to his alleged crime of criticizing the stolen election.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab announced that he would later disclose “in due time, manner, and place” the details of this summons. He will demand that the candidate of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) answer for the website where electoral records were published that, according to the opposition and a host of independent analysts, confirm Gonzalez’s victory in the July 28th election.
“He has to come to this summons to speak, consequently and successively, about his responsibility before, during, and after July 28, for his obstinacy and disobedience to the authorities,” the prosecutor said in a speech broadcast by the state channel VTV on Friday, August 23, 2024.
The Prosecutor’s Threats Against Edmundo Gonzalez
Saab hopes that Gonzalez “will testify about his authorship” in the publication of these data, which he emphasized “has usurped” a task “that only corresponds” to the National Electoral Council (CNE), which has yet to publish the precinct-by-precinct results that would confirm Maduro’s supposed victory at the polls as the CNE announced on Election Night.
“He doesn’t show his face, no one knows where he is,” commented Saab, referring to Gonzalez’s decision to remain “in hiding” in response to threats to imprison him and opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado.
Saab said Gonzalez “is in hiding,” due to “his extreme cowardice, terror, and fear of justice,” but insisted that “he will have to show his face” before the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The Attorney General’s announcement comes a day after the Supreme Court confirmed Maduro’s victory, which has been rejected by the opposition and numerous countries that for over three weeks have been urging that Venezuelan authorities to publish the detailed results, as required under the election law.
Among the crimes mentioned by the Prosecutor’s Office in the investigation against Gonzalez are usurpation, conspiracy, and association to commit crimes.
Gonzalez Calls for Firmness in Defense of Democracy
The majority opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, called on the various countries of the world to remain “firm” in “defense” of Venezuela’s democracy and to continue demanding “respect for the results” of the presidential elections, in which he claims to have won in a landslide, despite the electoral body proclaiming Nicolas Maduro as the winner without proof.
In a statement, the candidate of the main opposition coalition, the Democratic Unitary Platform, also urged the international community to persist in their call for “transparency” from the Venezuelan authorities, and he warned that “peace is at stake.”
11 Countries Reject Venezuelan Supreme Court’s Endorsement
Gonzalez made his statement after Chile, Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, the United States, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay rejected the controversial endorsement of Maduro’s victory by the Supreme Court, following a process of “validation” of the electoral results, requested by Maduro from this institution, which is controlled by judges loyal to Maduro.
Gonzalez called on “all social and political organizations, even those that did not support him electorally,” to unite and “respect the decision that Venezuelans expressed with their vote.”
“Given the onslaught against our freedoms and popular sovereignty, I call on all Venezuelans to unite in its defense, because what is at stake is no small matter,” he said, adding that “only in democracy” will the country have “the opportunity to transition to peaceful change,” in order to “progress and live in wellbeing.”
In a joint statement, the governments of the 11 American countries expressed doubt about “the supposed verification” that “seeks to validate the baseless results issued by the electoral body,” since the detailed precinct results, which had been done in all previous elections, have not been published.
They also recalled that they had “already expressed their lack of recognition of the validity of the declaration” by the National Electoral Council (CNE) after “access was denied to opposition representatives to the official count, the non-publication of the detailed results, and the subsequent refusal to conduct an impartial and independent audit.”
In this regard, they reiterated that “only an impartial and independent audit of the votes, which evaluates all the records, will ensure respect for the sovereign will of the people and democracy in Venezuela.”
The Democratic Unitary Platform claims that Gonzalez won by a wide margin, and published “83.5% of the electoral tally sheets,” collected by poll witnesses and workers, to support their claim, which has been backed by several countries and national and international organizations.
The CNE proclaimed Maduro the winner based on results that, 27 days after the elections, have yet to be published in a detailed manner, despite being stipulated in the election procedures.
This article was published in Spanish in Confidencial and translated by Havana Times. To get the most relevant news from our English coverage delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to The Dispatch.
