MIAMI.- In a statement issued this Saturday, less than 24 hours before the elections in Venezuela, the former heads of State and Government members of the Democratic Initiative of Spain and the Americas (IDEA) highlighted the importance of offering fair guarantees to all parties involved in the electoral process.
The document, signed by Asdrúbal Aguiar, Secretary General of the organization, has the signatures of Vicente Fox, former president of Mexico; Mireya Moscoso, former president of Panama; Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, former president of Costa Rica; Jorge Tuto Quiroga, former president of Bolivia; and Martha Lucía Ramírez, former vice president of Colombia.
In the statement, they emphasize their support for “presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia and the fundamental leader of Venezuelans, María Corina Machado,” who gave their approval for the former presidents to accompany them “during the historic electoral day that will take place on July 28 in Venezuela.”
Following the obstacles placed in their path by the Nicolás Maduro regime, such as the refusal to arrive in the country on a flight from Panama, the politicians declared: “Those of us who have had State responsibilities in a democracy know the importance of providing guarantees to all parties that participate as voters or elected to positions of popular representation, regardless of political and ideological differences, as well as having the friendly support of our Nations, without any agenda other than that of encouraging, in the case at hand, the massive, sovereign and free electoral participation of the Venezuelan people.”
They added: “In open violation of the fundamental elements of democracy, the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro Moros, in a primitive manner and without any respect for the elementary rules of international courtesy, has prohibited expert electoral observation by the OAS and the European Union, as well as the entry into Venezuela of our mission and that of numerous other missions and personalities who came to Caracas for the same purpose.”
That said, they underlined the “flagrant violation of the Barbados Accords, signed by the Maduro regime itself and its courtiers – whose text provides that every political actor has the right to their international and national companions – and while they boast of having a large presence of more than 700 international delegates, most of whom are their political and ideological allies, they have restricted, coerced and carried out mass deportations of foreign guests for the planned presidential elections. They have hijacked COPA airline planes located in Venezuela to force the former presidents of the IDEA Group to abandon the plane that would take them from Panama to Caracas at the time of takeoff.”
For this reason, the determination of the former presidents of the IDEA Group “is to maintain this support from our countries and support the fight for the return of democracy in Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Bolivia; this, in order to prevent other countries in the region from experiencing the risk of suffering that long night that for 24 years has darkened the illusions and hopes of millions of Venezuelans.”
They added: “Elections in which the diaspora of more than 8 million Venezuelan citizens who have been forced to leave their country, separate their families and say goodbye to their loved ones from exile, will not be able to participate will not go down in history as transparent or universal.”
Even so, they said, “by remaining active in our mission to support Venezuelans from our countries, we ultimately trust in the manifest determination of this brave people to recover their freedoms in the midst of threats, violations of electoral rules and the lack of openness of a dictatorial regime that has lost all legitimacy of origin. Therefore, we hope that the Armed Forces will live up to their constitutional obligations and be effective guarantors of the popular sovereignty that will be expressed and whose votes must be not only respected but constitutionally obeyed.”
Finally, they thanked the President of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, for “his firm attitude in the face of the Venezuelan attack on the COPA airline and his solidarity with the IDEA Group mission.”
Source: IDEA Group