Europe must recognize Gonzalez as elected president of Venezuela

On August 17, a beautiful protest swept the world. Millions of citizens in the main urban centers of Venezuela and in 350 cities around the world chanted “for the truth” and “against the fraud” of Nicolás Maduro.

Maduro did indeed commit a huge theft during the July 28 presidential elections, as I predicted in an article published in The European Conservative a month before the elections. Maduro declared himself the winner, without providing any proof of his triumph, with the complicity of the National Electoral Council (CNE in Spanish). The fraud was of such magnitude that it amounted to a coup d’état.

But Maduro cannot hide the obvious. Everyone knows that the opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, despite the most difficult obstacles, won a landslide victory with more than 37 points, as shown by 83% of the official counts, which are available to anyone who wants to see them at www.resultadosconvzla.com.

According to the Washington PostThe U.N. panel of experts that observed Venezuela’s elections said it had reviewed a small, publicly available sample of those documents. The printed receipts at polling stations included QR codes and signatures of officials and agents, security features that the panel said “appear very difficult to forge.”

But despite what has happened, European countries have not taken the necessary step to recognize Gonzalez as president-elect. So far, they have limited themselves to questioning the results and asking the Venezuelan electoral authorities to present the counts. But this is a request that does not make much sense, since the CNE is controlled by the Venezuelan regime, as the reports of the Carter Center and the UN Panel of Experts show.

Waiting to decide until the CNE provides evidence is a strategy designed by Maduro’s allies in the Sao Paulo Forum, including presidents Lula (Brazil), Gustavo Petro (Colombia) and López Obrador (Mexico), to give oxygen to the Venezuelan regime. The Spanish left, in turn, has promoted this same thesis within the European Union.

Waiting for the action of a corrupt and biased CNE is a mistake, because time favors the dictatorship and allows it to spread terror, committing countless human rights violations, resulting in deaths, injuries, torture and imprisonment. Furthermore, Maduro, struck by the humiliating defeat he suffered, is in a psychotic state of mind and has threatened to harm Edmundo Gonzalez and Maria Corina Machado, who have been forced into hiding. Their lives are undoubtedly in danger.

The question arises: what is the advantage of recognizing Gonzalez as president-elect? The first and most obvious advantage is that he won by an overwhelming majority. If the vote of the people does not count, what is the democratic system for? Second, because the status of elected president Gonzalez offers indispensable legal and diplomatic protection. And third, because this decision would cause divisions within Maduro’s inner circle, and thus put an end to the dictatorship. In fact, as I write this, at least five generals have been removed from their posts for refusing to repress the people.

Last but not least, if Maduro were to remain in power, it would pose a serious threat to the security of the Western Hemisphere, given the Venezuelan regime’s close ties to Russia, Iran, Islamic terrorist groups and drug cartels. And that’s not to mention the new wave of migration that would result.

In view of the above, European countries should ignore the recommendations of Lula and other left-wing spokesmen and take a firmer and more decisive position by recognizing Edmundo Gonzalez as President-elect of Venezuela as soon as possible.