Venezuela’s Maduro draws global condemnation over presidential campaign obstacles

For the United States to criticize or sanction the government of Venezuela is a common occurrence. But when the European Union and the main left-wing governments of South America — Brazil and Colombia — join in protest almost on the same day, it’s proof that the administration of Nicolás Maduro has crossed a line, yet another one. That is what happened on Tuesday, after the Chavista regime excluded the candidacy of Corina Yoris, the main opposition group’s plan B for the presidential elections scheduled for July 28.

After a tense and exhausting Monday, Venezuelan authorities announced that Yoris was unable to complete the process due to a failure on the electoral authority’s webpage. The 80-year-old academic had been selected by the coalition of opposing political parties, the Unitary Platform, in response to a controversial disqualification of the opposition leader María Corina Machado. The fact that this replacement candidate was also unable to register evidenced how the simple possibility of competing in the elections has become an obstacle course for the Venezuelan opposition. The international reaction was practically unanimous, undoing the recent diplomatic progress that the Maduro government had achieved.

Although Yoris was prevented from registering, the Unitary Platform said that it was eventually able to “provisionally register” someone else thanks to an extension granted by the government. This third candidate is the career diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia, who could in theory be replaced later, when a candidate that all members of the coalition can agree upon has been found. The deadline for doing so is April 20, and in the meantime, the small concession also buys time for Maduro following the wave of global criticism.

In Brazil, the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Tuesday expressed concern about the veto of Yoris’ candidacy. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, in a note with very measured language, that “the candidate of the Unitary Platform, a member of the opposition who is not weighed down by judicial decisions, was prevented from registering, which is not compatible with the Barbados agreements” that laid the foundation for the elections. This criticism, the first issued by the Brazilian government against the Venezuela regime in connection with the upcoming elections, comes a few months after President Lula welcomed Maduro in Brasília in an effort to break years of diplomatic isolation.

The first rebuke came from the European Union. In response to a query from the Spanish news agency EFE, its Lead Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Peter Stanos, made the EU position clear. “The European Union is deeply concerned and regrets the irregular and opaque process that has prevented some parties from registering their presidential candidates.”

Until now, Brazil has preferred to act behind the scenes to guide an electoral process with democratic guarantees. Lula himself avoided criticizing Machado’s disqualification, going so far as to say that she had to stop complaining and appoint a replacement, which she did. But now that the replacement has also been vetoed, Brazil has made its discontent public. The Brazilian statement adds that the authorities have not given any official explanation for preventing Yoris from registering after she was named the substitute for the disqualified María Corina Machado, who overwhelmingly won the opposition primaries. The statement also points out that 11 opposition candidates are still in the race and, in a nod to Chavismo, the note ends with a criticism of the sanctions against Venezuela.

Something similar happened in Colombia, where the Foreign Ministry stated in a release that it “reiterates its absolute respect for the sovereignty and autonomy of the Venezuelan people,” but “expresses its concern about the recent events that occurred on the occasion of the registration of some presidential candidates, particularly regarding the difficulties faced by majority sectors of the opposition.” Like Brazil, authorities in Colombia underscored the importance of the Barbados agreements.

The Petro administration has been extremely cautious regarding the internal situation in Venezuela, with a caution that borders on contradiction: Petro has insistently criticized the disqualifications of officials and candidates in different countries, yet did not speak out in the case of Machado. Colombia’s reaction this week triggered a prompt response from the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Yván Gil, on social media. “The Colombian Foreign Ministry has taken a false step and committed an act of gross interference in matters that only concern Venezuelans.”

Gil reacted in the same way to the criticism coming from other parts of the world. “The European Union, the same one that supported [self-proclaimed interim president Juan] Guaidó's farce, the one that disrespected our institutions and violated all the principles of international law by following Washington’s foreign policy, is sinking again into the mud of interventionism,” he said. As for Brazil’s remarks, Gil said that “the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela repudiates the gray and interfering statement, drafted by officials of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, which appears to have been dictated by the U.S. Department of State.”

Similar positions have been adopted elsewhere in Latin America by countries such as Peru, Costa Rica and Ecuador. The Foreign Minister of Uruguay, Omar Paganini, said that Venezuela is consolidating itself as “a dictatorship” and that the country’s electoral process “has been completely distorted.” Even more notably, Chile’s left-wing president, Gabriel Boric, on Thursday condemned the “arbitrary detention of political representatives of the Venezuelan opposition,” in reference to the judicial measures taken against significant members of Machado’s party.

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