González does not appear before the highest Venezuelan Court, under Chavismo control, and questions the legality of the electoral audit requested by President Maduro.
The Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez has not appeared this Wednesday before the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela under Chavismo control, for a hearing related to an audit of the electoral process requested by the president Nicolas Maduroaccording to his campaign.
On Monday, the Venezuelan High Court ordered González, representing the main parties of oppositionMaduro and the other eight candidates in the presidential elections of July 28to attend the hearings scheduled until Friday.
International criticism of Nicolás Maduro
The hearings, requested by Maduro to a related court, take place after days of international criticism of Maduro and the National Electoral Council by the results of the elections. Electoral authorities declared Maduro the winner, but have not yet released details of the vote count.
Meanwhile, the opposition claims to have compiled the minutes of more than 80% of the 30,000 electronic voting machines throughout the country, which would demonstrate the defeat of Maduro.
In a statement posted on social media, Edmundo González questioned the legality of the procedures of the Venezuelan Supreme Court and expressed serious concerns for your safety by declaring “in a situation of absolute helplessness” before a procedure that “does not correspond to any legal procedure”.
If he had gone to court, he said, he would have put “at risk not only my freedomBut, more importantly, the will of the Venezuelan people expressed on July 28″ at the polls and the “gigantic effort” of those who “have participated in this process so that we could obtain evidence of the vote validly exercised by citizens.”
It is not clear if González could face legal consequences for his decision not to appear at the scheduled hearing. But Judge Caryslia Rodríguez, president of the Supreme Court of Justice and its Electoral Chamber, warned during a nationally televised hearing Monday that failure to appear would carry the corresponding consequences provided by law, although she did not provide any details.
Activists denounce persecution, arbitrary arrests and repression
Las protests in Venezuela are being repressed harshly by the National Guard. Since social mobilizations broke out calling for greater transparency in the electoral process, More than 1,000 people have been arrested.
According to the human rights organization Foro Penal More than 20 people reportedly died in the demonstrations. Among those detained, more than 90 would be minors, according to this same institution.
Among those arrested, members of the formation Sell Venezuela, the party of María Corina Machado. Among them the head of the campaign command in the State of Portugesa, Maria Oropez.
“The number of those murdered has already risen to 20,” he says with concern in statements to ‘Euronews’. political scientist and Venezuelan emigrant Ender Benavideswho left the country pushed by Chavismo.
He now lives in the United States and is dedicated to denouncing the lack of democracy in Venezuela. spread the injustices that happen there through social networkswhere he has an important community of followers concerned, like him, about the evolution of the events after the elections of July 28.
Persecution of Venezuelans abroad
Venezuelans who, like him, are abroad – more than 8 million in total – They are also not free from the persecution of the Nicolás Maduro regime that started taking action against them.
“We are facing a new wave of repression that not only affects the Venezuelans who are still there but also those of us who have left,” he confirms in statements to this channel.
“Are canceling the passports of Venezuelans abroad”, he explains to us. It is a way to control the population that has left the country, mostly critical of Chavismo.
ADVERTISINGThis control is exercised through social networks. And Nicolás Maduro has already declared war on big technology companies and has made public its intention to end the WhatsApp application in the country.
““He has threatened to delete the WhatsApp application.”says Benavides, who also explains to us that “they stop vehicles and passers-by to check their phones.”
While they ban WhatsApp, they have launched their own application so that any citizen can report another who is questioning the electoral result. “Chavista neighbors can denounce opponents so that they can go look for them at home,” says the political scientist.
In this context, The international community is increasingly putting pressure on against Nicolás Maduro, demanding the publication of the minutes and discrediting the result announced by the National Electoral Council.
ADVERTISINGThe last American president to speak openly about “electoral fraud” It was the Chilean Gabriel Boricwho has also denounced that this type of persecution “would not be acceptable in any democratic country against any opposition supporter.”
