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Mexico City – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador assured on Wednesday that there was “no evidence” of alleged electoral fraud in Venezuela, where Nicolás Maduro won a third term in office, and questioned the Organization of American States’ (OAS) approach as “interventionist.”
“Let’s wait. I think evidence must be produced, minutes of meetings, I think they should have minutes of meetings, even if they were done electronically, I believe that in the proceedings there are minutes, there are records to know what happened,” the president responded to questions from EFE during the morning meeting.
The Mexican leader denied that the actions now condemned by the Venezuelan opposition were similar to the allegations of fraud he made during the 2006 Mexican elections, when he lost to the right-wing Felipe Calderón (2000-2006) by 0.56% of the vote.
“I don’t have any evidence, that is, in the case of Venezuela, no evidence. We do have a lot of evidence,” López Obrador said, noting that “no country” had called for “transparency” and accusing international journalists at the time of “favoring fraud.”
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) issued its only communiqué on Sunday evening, declaring Maduro the winner with 51.2% of the vote, while his opponent Edmundo González Urrutia, backed by leader María Corina Machado, was disqualified from participating in the elections with 44.2%.
“I told Calderón that if he didn’t count the votes, he would feel hypocritical and that once there was fraud, all the water in the ocean could not erase the stain,” the president explained.
He added that “since he had no legitimacy in the elections”, the PAN leader (2006-2012) “wanted to legitimize himself by declaring war on drug trafficking”, something the country “is still facing”.
“So imagine the damage caused by electoral fraud, caused by wanting to impose it without respecting the will of the citizens,” he warned.
However, López Obrador called on the CNE to “give all the results” and make the voting records public, and urged the opposition to turn to the relevant judicial authorities “if they are not satisfied with the final judgment.”
«But don’t start confrontation and violence. Not this,» he said forcefully.
Mexico rejects OAS ‘interventionism’
Likewise, he noted that Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena will not attend a meeting called by the Organization of American States because she disagrees with the organization’s approach to the Venezuelan elections.
“Why should we attend such a meeting? It is not serious and it is not responsible,” he stressed, calling for an end to “interventionism” which is the reason for the “stagnation” on the Venezuelan issue.
Even the Carter Center, which participated in Venezuela’s elections as an observer, said on Tuesday that the process “did not meet” international parameters and standards for electoral integrity and therefore “cannot be considered democratic.”
The Mexican president therefore reiterated his “concern” about the developments in Venezuela and asked the CNE to “respect” them.
(dynamic)
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