Peru becomes the first country to consider Edmundo González as “president-elect” of Venezuela

Peruvian Foreign Minister Javier González-Olaechea announced on Tuesday that his government recognizes opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia as the president-elect of Venezuela.

“This position is shared by numerous countriesgovernments and international organizations,” he told state-run TV Peru.

The Peruvian foreign minister was one of the most critical of the government of Nicolás Maduro after he was declared the winner of the presidential elections last Sunday.

Maduro’s victory has been widely questioned, as the National Electoral Council (CNE) issued the result without presenting the minutes from the voting centres after a process characterised by opacity and controlled at all times by the government, according to complaints from opponents and international organisations.

González-Olaechea considered the elections a “fraud” and described Maduro as “a person who wants to by way of a dictatorship perpetuate themselves in power.”

The Foreign Minister assured that contacted the opposition leader by phone Venezuelan María Corina Machado to express her solidarity with her and the candidate Edmundo González Urrutia.

The Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) led by Machado opened a website where it uploaded copies of 73% of the minutes of Sunday’s elections, according to which González Urrutia had been the winner by a wide margin.

Tension in the region

Peru is one of seven Latin American countries involved in a diplomatic conflict with Venezuela following Sunday’s elections.

The Venezuelan government on Monday demanded the withdrawal of diplomatic personnel in Caracas from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, Dominican Republic and Uruguay.

He also ordered the return of Venezuelan representatives in these seven countries, whom he accuses of “interventionist actions and statements” as well as of committing to “international fascism.”

The presidents of Argentina, Javier Milei, and Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves, agreed with the Peruvian foreign minister, alleging “fraud” in Maduro’s proclamation.

The Panamanian government went a step further and announced the withdrawal of diplomatic personnel from Venezuela.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric described the election results as “hard to believe,” while Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou claimed that the vote count was “clearly flawed.”

Despite the growing requests from these and other countries, the Maduro government has not released the detailed results of the official records in each of the voting centers, and denounced – without presenting evidence – an alleged computer attack to the voting system whose authorship was attributed to opposition figures, including leader María Corina Machado.

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