MIAMI.- The Democratic Initiative of Spain and the Americas (IDEA) expressed concern about recent events in Venezuelain the context of the July presidential electionand denounced the non-compliance with the Nicolás Maduro regime to the Barbados Agreements.
Specifically, IDEA referred to “the rights of the opposition within the electoral process” that are “sustainedly violated” and “the decision to withdraw the invitation to an electoral observation mission from the European Union.”
In a statement, IDEA indicated that it “echoes what was stated by the world leaders of the G7”, who from Italy expressed their concern about the violation of the Barbados Agreementsby the Chavista regime.
In that sense, IDEA warned that the presidential elections in Venezuela “They will be carried out in a de facto context, without institutional or electoral guarantees, with the total absence of a democratic and constitutional State of Law.”
The group highlighted “the repression with loss of freedom to which those who form the campaign teams of (María Corina) Machado in support of the presidential candidacy of (Edmundo) González Urrutia or who lend their support to both of them from the street”, in reference to the arbitrary arrests of which members of the opposition candidate’s campaign team and collaborators have been subjected.
This week, Machado’s Vente Venezuela party denounced that at least 37 activists have been arrested so far in 2024. These people have been related in some way to the events and activities of the opposition campaign.
In addition, IDEA highlighted its concern about “the exclusion from the right to vote of the almost 8 million Venezuelans who have migrated and from the participation of qualified electoral observation of the Organization of American States (OAS).”
The Democratic Initiative of Spain and the Americas said that it can confirm that in Venezuela “popular sovereignty has taken its own course and is actively and massively demonstrating to assert their right to vote, so that it is respected, and thereby rescue the set of freedoms that have been confiscated from Venezuelans by the regime of Nicolás Maduro Moros”.
For this reason, he stated that “the lack of recognition of the majority democratic will that is being expressed in Venezuela, if it occurs, will represent a serious and comprehensive attack on the essential elements and fundamental components of democracy that bind the American and European nations” and assured that “given this, their organizations and the international community will have to severely condemn it.”
Finally, the members of IDEA indicated that they will be “very attentive and vigilant of the process towards the planned presidential elections, in proof of solidarity with the legitimate source of all power, namely, the free exercise of the right to vote of every citizen and to be elected, without fear or discrimination of any kind”.
