The corporate media has closed ranks with the US government in an attempt to override Venezuela’s election, which took place on 28 July. Incumbent Chavista Nicolás Maduro won the presidential race with 51.2% of the vote, while the main opposition candidate Edmundo González received 44.2%.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had “serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people”.
Venezuela: electoral disputes from imperialist right
At the invitation of Venezuela’s National Election Commission, the Carter Center brought a technical mission to observe the presidential election. The Carter Center has requested that Venezuela’s National Election Commission “immediately publish the presidential election results at the polling station level”.
Founder of the Carter Center, former US president Jimmy Carter, declared in 2012 that:
As a matter of fact, of the 92 elections that we’ve monitored, I would say the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world.
Key leader of the US-backed opposition campaign efforts, right-wing María Corina Machado, said that González was the real winner:
We had an overwhelming victory and everyone knows it
In January, Venezuela’s supreme court upheld a ban on Machado running in the presidential race. The court pointed to Machado supporting US-led sanctions against Venezuela, which have crippled the nation’s economy. She has previously called for “force” and the “imminent threat” of a foreign coalition to oust the Maduro government.
The supreme court lifted bans on a number of other politicians from participating in the race.
More than 800 international observers, meanwhile, went to Venezuela to oversee the 2024 election.
At the same time, Maduro blocked a flight of former Latin American leaders from entering Venezuela. Maduro’s government said there was an organised interventionist attempt to delegitimise the election, with pro-US right-wing governments in Latin and Central America participating.
Trump: “We would’ve got all that oil”
It seems US-led efforts to overthrow Maduro are little to do with democracy. Donald Trump said the quiet part loud after he left office:
When I left, Venezuela was ready to collapse we would’ve taken it over, we would’ve got all that oil it would’ve been right next door
Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, accounting for 17% of the globe’s.
Indeed, US senator Chris Murphy has openly discussed the US’ coup attempts in Venezuela. Murphy spoke of the various attempts the US has undertaken to “topple” Maduro.
Featured image via PBS NewsHour – YouTube
