In a statement, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it is clear to his country that the opposition candidate won over Chavista leader Nicolás Maduro.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement in which he said Washington concluded, based on "overwhelming evidence," that opposition candidate Edmundo González was the winner of the July 28 presidential election in Venezuela.
Venezuelan electoral authorities announced on Sunday night that with 80% of the votes counted, Nicolás Maduro had won with 51.2% of the votes, and since then they have not provided a complete count, which raised suspicions of fraud in the United States, which had been cautious until it knew the detailed data by polling station, which Caracas has not provided.
“Given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States, and especially to the Venezuelan people, that Edmundo González Urrutia won the majority of votes in Venezuela's presidential election on July 28,” Blinken said in a statement.
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The United States called on the parties involved in the Venezuelan crisis to undertake a transition process that respects the desire for an electoral outcome and said it will support a process of "restoring democratic norms" in Venezuela.
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At the beginning of the week, the United States requested to see the minutes by table in order to make a statement and has been in contact with Brazil, something that crystallized in a call between the American president, Joe Biden, and the Brazilian, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to ask for transparency and detailed results from the Maduro government.
This Thursday, Blinken announced that he accepts the scrutiny presented by the opposition, led by María Corina Machado, which represents 80% of the polling stations and which shows that González Urrutia "received the majority of the votes with an insurmountable margin."
Blinken recalled that the minutes were "received directly from the polling stations throughout Venezuela" and corroborate the exit polls and the conclusions of independent observers and quick counts.
"Since election day, we have consulted intensively with partners and allies around the world and, although each country has taken different paths to respond, none has concluded that Nicolás Maduro has received the majority of the votes," concludes the head of US diplomacy.
Blinken recalled that the "rapid" declaration of the National Electoral Council (CNE) that gave victory to Maduro on Sunday "came without any evidence to support it" and the body "has not published disaggregated data and no minutes yet," despite international calls to do so.
The Secretary of State pointed out that the Carter Center observation mission "has stripped all credibility from the results announced by the CNE."
