Venezuela’s socialist regime announced on Tuesday that it would rescind an invitation extended to the European Union to send a group of observers for the upcoming July 28 sham presidential election.
The head of the regime-controlled National Electoral Center (CNE) Elvis Amoroso read a CNE statement during a press conference claiming that the decision to revoke the invitation to EU observers is in response to the “historically colonialist position” of the organization after it upheld individual sanctions imposed on 50 high-ranking members of the authoritarian socialist regime this month. The sanctions froze their assets and banned them from entering EU territory, among other restrictions.
“It would be immoral to allow their participation, knowing their neocolonialist and interventionist practices against Venezuela, their presence in an electoral process so important for democracy and peace in Venezuela and the world would not be welcome,” Amoroso said.
The CNE also demanded that the European Union lift all allegedly “coercitive, unilateral, and genocidal” sanctions imposed on Venezuela and cease its “hostile” position against their country.
CNE en ejercicio de las atribuciones conferidas por la Constitución de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela, la Ley Orgánica del Poder Electoral y la Ley Orgánica de Procesos Electorales ratifica la convocatoria amplia de veeduría electoral para la #EleccionPresidencial2024 pic.twitter.com/h1CtpIj1PO
— cneesvenezuela (@cneesvzla) May 28, 2024
The Venezuelan electoral authority claimed that “over 200” observers will participate in the election, representing other blocs such as the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), among others.
The European Union responded to Amoroso’s announcement with a brief statement on Tuesday evening expressing its “deep regret” over the CNE’s decision to revoke the invitation.
“The Venezuelan people should be able to elect their president in credible, transparent and competitive elections, supported by international observation, including that of the European Union, which has a long and distinguished record of independent and impartial observation,” the statement read.
The European Union stated that the invitation of EU observers was part of the “Barbados Agreements,” a document signed in October 2023 by representatives of the Maduro regime and the Venezuelan opposition under the observation of the Biden administration and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The agreement required Maduro to make promises to set the conditions for a “free and fair” presidential election in 2024, including lifting bans on opposition candidates that would allow them to run for president, allowing international observers, and other terms.
In exchange, U.S. President Joe Biden awarded the Maduro regime with a six-month oil and gas sanctions relief package that allowed Venezuela to once again freely sell its oil in U.S. and International markets, opening new revenue streams for the authoritarian regime.
The Biden administration, after it failed to entice the Maduro regime to hold a “free and fair” election, reinstated the sanctions in April once the six-month package expired.
The European Union concluded its statement by urging the CNE to reconsider its decision.
Venezuela is expected to hold a sham presidential election on July 28. Socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro is seeking to obtain a new six-year term after clinging to power in 2018 through a similarly fraudulent election where the Venezuelan opposition was barred from participation and only handpicked “rivals” were able to compete against the ruling dictator.
Maduro also banned legitimate opposition candidates from the July election. The most popular politician in the country according to polls, center-right former lawmaker María Corina Machado, was banned from public office in response to her support of international sanctions on Maduro. The CNE also blocked Machado’s substitute, 80-year-old academic Corina Yoris, from appearing on the ballot.
As a result, Maduro’s main rival in the sham election will be Edmundo González Urrutia, a lesser-known 74-year-old diplomat originally meant to be a “placeholder” candidate for Machado. The election will also include the participation of a handful of lesser-known “opposition” and/or regime-approved “rivals.”
Amoroso, along with three former CNE officials, had their EU sanctions lifted in mid-May at a time when the bloc renewed the sanctions against 50 other members of the socialist regime. The European Union asserted at the time that the decision to lift the sanctions on the four socialist officials was to “strengthen Venezuelan efforts toward inclusive and competitive presidential elections.”
Amoroso immediately rejected the lifting of his personal sanctions, which had been imposed on him in 2020 during his tenure as Venezuela’s comptroller general, and demanded that all sanctions imposed on the Maduro regime be lifted, including those imposed by the United States and other countries.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
