(NY Times) The United States on Thursday night recognized Venezuela’s opposition presidential candidate, Edmundo González, as the winner of the country’s disputed election.
The announcement, by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, comes despite a claim by the country’s authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, and by the government-controlled electoral body, that Mr. Maduro had won the Sunday election.
Mr. Maduro has yet to produce clear evidence of a victory, and election officials have failed to provide a vote count. Mr. González’s campaign says it has receipts from more than 80 percent of voting machines that indicate he won by an insurmountable margin.
While some leaders have voiced support for Mr. González in recent days, the United States is the largest nation to recognize him as the winner.
The decision is sure to anger Mr. Maduro, who has long characterized Washington as meddling imperialists. But it’s unclear if the announcement will have any effect on Mr. Maduro’s grip on power.
Mr. Blinken, in a statement, said that “given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States and, most importantly, to the Venezuelan people that Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes.”
“We congratulate Edmundo González Urrutia on his successful campaign,” Mr. Blinken continued. “Now is the time for the Venezuelan parties to begin discussions on a respectful, peaceful transition in accordance with Venezuelan electoral law.”
Mr. Maduro did not immediately respond to the statement. But just as it was issued, he wrote on X, the social media platform, that he was willing to talk to the United States “if the U.S. government is willing to respect sovereignty and stop threatening Venezuela.”
The candidacy of Mr. González, who is backed by a popular opposition leader, María Corina Machado, posed the most significant electoral threat to Mr. Maduro since he took office in 2013.
The movement that Mr. Maduro leads, known as Chavismo, has controlled Venezuela for a quarter-century, since his predecessor, President Hugo Chávez, was elected, eventually promising a socialist revolution. Under their leadership, the government has become authoritarian, arresting dissidents, crushing protests through force and crafting elections in favor of the ruling party.
Since the election, angry supporters of Mr. González and Ms. Machado have taken to the streets to protest, leading to a crackdown by security forces and armed pro-government gangs. At least 17 people have died, according to a human rights group, Foro Penal, and reporting by The New York Times. About 750 people have been arrested, according to the country’s attorney general.
Ms. Machado has called supporters to march on Saturday in Caracas, the capital, and to hang the flag of Venezuela as a “symbol of freedom.”
While the United States is not alone in doubting the election results, other nations have taken a softer approach to Mr. Maduro, clearly believing that they can use diplomacy to cajole him into releasing vote tallies from all the polling stations, as has been done in past elections, and recognizing the real result.
On Thursday, the governments of Mexico, Brazil and Colombia — all governed by leftists who have maintained relatively friendly ties with Mr. Maduro — issued a “call to the electoral authorities of Venezuela to move forward expeditiously and publicly release the data broken down by voting station.”
“We reiterate our willingness to support the efforts of dialogue and search for agreements that benefit the Venezuelan people,” the three governments said in a joint statement.
Early Monday, hours after polls closed, the government-controlled election authority said that Mr. Maduro had received 51 percent of the vote, and Mr. González 44 percent.
The opposition campaign, however, said it had collected receipts printed by each polling machine at the end of the day, and that it had gathered receipts from 81 percent of the machines. Their count indicates that Mr. González won 67 percent of the vote.
Steve Levitsky, an expert on democracy at Harvard University, has called Mr. Maduro’s assertion of victory “one of the most egregious electoral frauds in modern Latin American history.”
Mr. Blinken’s declaration that Mr. González won is likely to be welcomed by those who wanted Washington to take a strong stance. But in light of recent history, there is sure to be skepticism that the statement will have much effect.
In 2019, the Trump administration backed a claim by Juan Guaidó, then the head of Venezuela’s legislature, that he was the rightful president. Mr. Guaidó had invoked an article of the Constitution that allows the president of the National Assembly to take over the executive position in certain situations.
The move was supported by dozens of other countries, and for a brief moment it looked like Mr. Maduro might be forced out. But popular and political momentum behind Mr. Guaidó fizzled, and Mr. Guaidó fled to the United States last year. Today, Mr. Maduro points to the episode as evidence of his strength, and of American weakness.
This week, Mr. Maduro turned to the Supreme Court, which is controlled by his allies, to mediate the election dispute. The court has called for Mr. Maduro and Mr. González to appear before it on Friday.
