President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Wednesday that Mexico wouldn’t participate in an Organization of American States (OAS) meeting on Sunday’s allegedly fraudulent presidential election in Venezuela.
“I have information that Alicia Bárcena, the minister of foreign affairs, won’t participate in the OAS meeting [on Wednesday],” López Obrador told reporters at his morning press conference.
“We’re not going to participate because we don’t agree with the attitude of partiality of the OAS,” added AMLO, who has previously been critical of the Washington D.C.-based organization and favored the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States as a forum for regional dialogue during his presidency.
The office of OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro said in a statement on Tuesday that throughout the entire electoral process in Venezuela, “we saw the application by the Venezuelan regime of its repressive scheme complemented by actions aimed at completely distorting the electoral result, making that result available to the most aberrant manipulation.”
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) announced on Monday that incumbent President Nicolás Maduro of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela had won a third six-year term in office, triggering protests across the poverty-stricken nation.
Before that announcement, López Obrador said that Mexico would respect the result determined by the CNE.
On Wednesday, he accused Almagro of having “recognized” one of the candidates — opposition aspirant Edmundo González — as the winner of the election “without any proof.”
“So why go to a meeting like that? This is not serious, it is not responsible, it doesn’t help to find a peaceful, democratic way out of … [this] conflict,” López Obrador said.
“… Enough of this! Enough of the interventionism. Venezuela’s problems have reached a stalemate, a way out hasn’t been found, because there is a lot of interference — they get involved from abroad, not just [foreign] governments, the media [as well],” he said.
Despite that remark, López Obrador voiced an opinion that has been expressed by other world leaders in recent days – that the Venezuela government should release the complete voting records of Sunday’s elections.
“I believe proof [of the election results] should be presented, the voting records,” he said.
So far, however, there is no evidence that electoral fraud was committed in Venezuela, López Obrador said before asserting that he had “a lot of proof” supporting his claim that his defeat in the 2006 presidential election in Mexico was the result of fraud.
In 2006, he added, “no foreign country, no foreign government asked for transparency.”
With reports from El Universal and Milenio
This is a strong statement, good for AMLO being a much-needed voice of reason
These people have been held hostage by a Government run, military cartel. The richest country in the world is starving for democracy. Asking for voting records is nonsense. I mean does anyone expect them to be legitimate? Putting your head in the sand seems to characterize Amlo. He’s taken the same position with the Mexican cartels.
Exactly Randy, well said and point on.
I agree.
I concur with Randy. Normally I support AMLO, but on this issue his position and comments are SHAMEFUL! If he wanted to help the Venezuelan people he could offer Maduro asylum in Mexico and allow the Venezuelan’s to re-establish a legit government. Otherwise, and this appears more likely, prepare yourselves for a mass exodus of the remaining Venezuelan population as they flee through Mexico to the US. What doe Claudia Sheinbaum have to say about all this ?
I want to see the results immediately released and for the 2 competing organizations to comment on them.
AMLO is delusional!
I’m not surprised by AMLO’s position but I’m worried that he would like to see the same here in Mexico. I believe, instead, the Mexican people, regardless of party loyalty, believe in the value of fairness, that is a value held in the heart of nearly every Mexican person. It is the most important value and reason I want to live here. So while I will avoid being cynical, instead I will remain hopeful that Claudia will not implement the similar Constructional ‘reforms’ that allow Venezuela to behave this way or that she will use her majority to, at some point I the future, resend the dangerous, undemocratic reforms passed by AMLO. She’s a really smart person and I will have faith she is driven more by facts, reason, and logic than ideology. She is our best hope
AMLO: An old saying. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.
There were actual voting records by from thousands of districts which showed that Gonzales won by about 70% to 20 %. It wasn’t even close.
Eventually dictators always go down after much damage is done, and the process is usually ugly.
This administration continually calls for sovereignty and solidarity amongst all the Bolivaran States. This is the only course for the region that has, for far too long, been disrupted by colonial and imperial powers including the United States. Standing strong against the involvement of the OAS (CIA?) keeps alive the possibility of independence and justice for the people of Venezuela and the region.
It’s almost impossible for a recent (4 yrs) ex pat to fully grasp the extent of the denial of the president : it’s essentially a state of mind ; no fraud in Venezuela, no fentanyl made in Mexico, no Mexican refugees fleeing Chiapas for Guatemala because of cartel violence, nothing to see, move on . . .
Whatever your opinion of the election and its results; why should an investigation be from a gathering organized by the US? The US has done everything it can to strangle Venezuela economically. It is that stranglehold that has contributed largely to the poverty in Venezuela; the same poverty that has influenced many who would vote against Maduro. I agree with AMLO that the investigation should be organized and led by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.