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Miami.– US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking this Tuesday to Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena, said the Venezuelan government has an obligation to publish “a detailed and unaltered count” of the July 28 presidential election.
Blinken and his Mexican counterpart held a phone call on Tuesday, during which the U.S. diplomatic chief stressed the need to “end human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests and indiscriminate detentions” in Venezuela, according to Vedant Patel, the secretary of state’s principal deputy spokesman.
Blinken expressed support for Mexico’s efforts to “facilitate an inclusive, Venezuelan-led dialogue that respects the will of the Venezuelan people, achieves a return to democracy, and promotes respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
The call came on the same day that the United States argued that the Organization of American States (OAS) was a “tool” to resolve Venezuela’s post-election crisis, after the ruling party declared a second term for President Nicolas Maduro, a result that was questioned both at home and abroad.
“Our hope and our goal is to use the OAS as a tool to achieve this goal,” Patel said at a news conference.
The spokesman made the statement following a call on Monday between Blinken and Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo, in which they disagreed over the role the Washington-based Pan-American organization should play in the face of what is happening in Venezuela.
The governments of Colombia, Brazil and Mexico, which maintain relations with Maduro, are trying to lead mediation efforts to find a way out of the crisis and on August 1, by abstention or absence, prevented Maduro’s permanent council, the Organization of American States, from approving a resolution calling for the verification of Venezuela’s election results.
The United States denied Maduro’s victory, and the National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Maduro the winner after the July 28 election, but did not announce the election results.
The Venezuelan crisis has sparked protests that have left 25 people dead, according to several NGOs, and more than 2,400 detained, according to official data. EFE/IR
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