The Nicaraguan Democratic Concertation, CDN-Monteverde, regrets the acts of violence and joins the pain of the families of the victims that are being registered during the protests that began on July 29, following the attempt of Nicolás Maduro’s regime to consummate the crudest electoral fraud ever seen in Venezuelan political history.
It also demands respect for the physical integrity and the immediate release of protesters and opposition leaders captured in the midst of these protests, which could continue until the National Electoral Council (CNE) begins the process of reviewing the electoral records and recognizing the results of the election.
The announcement by the CNE that fraudulently gave Maduro as the winner was enough for millions of Venezuelans convinced of the opposition’s triumph to exercise their right to protest and take to the streets to demand respect for the popular will expressed at the polls. But once again the security forces, under Maduro’s orders, murdered at least two young people, imprisoned dozens and repressed thousands of demonstrators.
The raid against opponents continues, as well as the threat to open judicial proceedings against prominent opposition leaders, among them María Corina Machado of Vente Venezuela. Meanwhile, Venezuelans continue to demand that the will of the people be respected, which according to the result of 73 percent of the voting records in possession of opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, favored him with a lead of almost four million votes over Nicolás Maduro.
We celebrate the decision of some members of the armed forces and the National Guard who took off their uniforms to join the protests and others who instead of repressing used their shields to protect the demonstrators from the violence of the gangs of armed civilians known as colectivos, who act as hired assassins of the Maduro regime.
The CDN-Monteverde joins the call of the international community demanding respect for the will of the people and an end to violence. Furthermore, it reiterates its warning that allowing this new electoral fraud will provoke serious consequences for Latin American democracy and a new cycle of violence that could lead to a new wave of migration of Venezuelans. It also urges those countries that have not yet done so to repudiate this crude attempt at fraud and to take individual or collective action to help prevent it from taking place.
Venezuela elected at the ballot box and the will of the people must be respected.