The presidents of Mexico, Brazil and Colombia often say they support democracy, but the truth is that they propped up a dictatorship by ignoring the diplomatic boycott of most Western democracies and sending their representatives to the inauguration of the Venezuelan dictator. Nicolas Maduro for a new six-year term. In other words, they gave their official blessing to Maduro’s electoral fraud.
The voting records released by the opposition and certified as authentic by experts show that opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia won the elections with 67% of the votes, against 30% of Ripe. But the Venezuelan autocrat declared himself the winner anyway, without ever showing the official records.
It is true that the presidents of Mexico, Brazil and Colombia did not personally travel to Venezuela for the inauguration ceremony, nor did they send high-level delegations. However, they ordered their respective ambassadors to be present, which amounted to an official recognition of the investiture of Ripe.
Among the few visiting dignitaries who attended the inauguration of Ripe There were the dictators of Cuba and Nicaragua.
On the other hand, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Paraguay, Ecuador, Panama, the United States and Spain, among others, condemned the fraudulent re-election of Ripe and they did not send any representative to the event. Several of them have recognized González Urrutia as the legitimate president of Venezuela.
The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, who recently stated that Mexico “is the most democratic country,” argued that she decided to send the Mexican ambassador because the Mexican Constitution establishes non-intervention in the internal affairs of other countries.
It was a pathetic excuse. Article 89 of Mexico’s Magna Carta requires the president to pursue a foreign policy guided by both the principle of “non-intervention” and “respect, protection and promotion of human rights.” Sheinbaum chose to focus on the first principle and ignore the second.
Ripe Not only did he blatantly steal the election, but he has since unleashed a massive wave of repression. In the months following the July 28 elections, Maduro’s security forces caused “at least 25 deaths, more than 2,000 arbitrary detentions and forced disappearances,” according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said that “Ripe “must explain” about the election results of July 28. However, Lula also sent his ambassador in Caracas to the swearing-in ceremony, claiming that Venezuela’s problems must be solved by Venezuelans.
Similarly, Colombian President Gustavo Petro admitted that the Venezuelan elections “were not free,” but sent his ambassador to the new inauguration anyway. Ripe.
Recognize Ripe as the legitimate leader of Venezuela is not only a moral error, but a serious strategic error by Mexico, Brazil and Colombia.
These three countries are likely to be among the most affected by the new wave of mass migration of Venezuelans that is likely to come now, as Venezuela’s economic crisis will worsen with new sanctions from the United States and the European Union.
In a recent interview, Machado told me that yes Ripe swore for a new mandate, “three, four, five, six million more” Venezuelans will leave the country. She may not have been exaggerating: almost eight million have already left since she Ripe He took office in 2013, according to United Nations figures.
Where are Venezuelans going to flee? Now that US President-elect Donald Trump promises to close the US border, many will head to Colombia, Brazil and Mexico.
In short, the presidents of Mexico, Brazil and Colombia have just shot themselves in the foot. Their speeches in favor of democracy were made ridiculous and their countries will be among the main victims of Venezuela’s descent into an increasingly repressive drug dictatorship, with a more impoverished people.
–Glossed and edited–
© El Nuevo Herald. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
