Belize abstains in OAS vote on Venezuela elections

_{Photo: Venezuelan nationals protest the results of the country’s presidential election in Quito, Ecuador, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024 (AP Photo/Carlos Noriega)}

Arrests rise in Venezuela after disputed election, global voices express concern By Marco Lopez

Belize City, Monday, August 5, 2024

Belize abstained from voting on a resolution of the Organization of American States (OAS) calling on the Venezuelan government to release the verified results of the July 28, 2024 election. Belize and 10 other countries abstained from the July 31 vote organized by the OAS.

Speaking to local media last Friday, Foreign Minister His Excellency Francis Fonseca explained: “Belize abstained in the resolution because we did want more information. We were not satisfied that we had enough, reliable information, so we joined others in calling for more transparency, and we need more information and more data.”

Although Venezuelan authorities have declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner of the election, they have yet to provide voting results proving his victory. Meanwhile, thousands of Venezuelans from Caracas and across Latin America are protesting in support of an opposition candidate who they believe won the presidential vote by a landslide.

“Under the current circumstances, the results of the presidential elections held on Sunday, July 28, in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, declared by the National Electoral Council (CNE) that Nicolás Maduro was the winner, cannot be recognized,” the report released by the OAS Department of Electoral Cooperation and Observation (DECO) states.

“Throughout the electoral process, we have seen the Venezuelan regime implement a program of repression and take actions aimed at radically distorting the results of the elections and subjecting them to the most egregious manipulation. This continues,” the OAS said in a press release following the release of the report.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and her hand-picked presidential candidate Edmundo González have submitted minutes indicating they won the election, while Venezuela’s National Electoral Council has issued two communiqués confirming President Maduro’s victory despite tensions and allegations of fraud.

On Friday, Belize’s Fonseca said his country would follow past best practices and work through the regional blocs to which it belongs, namely the Caribbean Community and the Central American Integration System, and avoid making unilateral statements on the issue.

“We have discussed this at the CARICOM level, not yet at SICA, but at the CARICOM level, we have discussed this. Obviously, there are different views; but the vast majority of CARICOM countries abstained from voting on the resolution for exactly the reasons I said, they need to see more information, they need to get more data. We in CARICOM and Belize are absolutely committed to ensuring that Venezuela has free and fair elections; it is critically important,” Fonseca said.

While Venezuela has been supporting Belize and the Caribbean region through its PetroCaribe program, Fonseca explained that the future of diplomatic relations between the two countries depends on the decisions made by the Latin American petrostate in the coming days and weeks.

“If they do what they say they will do, which is to be fully transparent, provide all the records of the vote, provide the data in an open and transparent way to the public, the media and the observers, then we will follow that. If they don’t do that, then we will have to have our own discussions in Belize and within CARICOM and SICA,” Fonseca explained.

For Venezuelans, 15 years of Maduro regime rule has brought mixed feelings; many are now frustrated with what are seen as failed policies enacted under Maduro and Chavez’s ideology.

Venezuela has been in free fall marked by hyperinflation and widespread shortages due to U.S.-imposed oil sanctions, further weakening the country and causing more than 7.7 million Venezuelans to flee the country — Latin America’s largest exodus to date.

On Saturday, President Maduro announced the arrest of more than 2,000 protesters at a rally in the capital, Caracas.

On Sunday, the Organization of American States called on the Bolivarian Republic to establish a day of peace and reconciliation.

“Let the actions of every Venezuelan man and woman be profoundly peaceful; let there be no place for either oppressor or oppressed. A ‘peace’ of oppression, fear and terror is not peace,” the press release stated.

CNN attempted to contact the Venezuelan ambassador to Belize, Gerado Argote, but received no response.