In this July 30, 2024, article for Mint Press News, journalist Alan Mcleod discusses how US politicians are fueling the tension in Venezuela following the third re-election of socialist candidate Nicolas Maduro.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken questioned the validity of the results, demanding that Venezuelan election officials “publish the detailed tabulation of votes”. Meanwhile, Venezuelan senator Marco Rubio said that the only way Manduro will win “is with massive fraud”.
According to Mint News, these statements are inaccurate as American electoral observers in Venezuela are endorsing the results. In a statement, Wyatt Souers, representative of the International People’s Assembly said, “The US has tried to destablize and undermine the legitimacy of basically every Venezuelan election in recent memory. Ahead of the election, they always put out statements and media pieces, declaring the election a fraud before it even begins. But what we have witnessed this week is tons of support for the Maduro government amongst the people here.
Editor’s Note: The Venezuela situation is tricky because we know that the US has a penchant for meddling with elections in other countries.1https://academic.oup.com/isq/article/60/2/189/1750842 On one hand, we are seeing videos on X of Venezuelans taking to the streets to demand for the release of the election results, while some US journalists who are currently in Venezuela are saying that the elections were “far more secure than US elections”.
International monitors are also divided in their positions. For example, the Carter Center said they could not stand by the results of the Venezuelan elections because they “did not meet international standards of electoral integrity and cannot be considered democratic.” In contrast, the National Lawyers Guild observed “fairness, transparency of the Venezuelan election process.” We encourage you to watch the video below to understand the US stake in Venezuela.
The CCH team has not decided whether the US or Manduro is right/wrong here, but we do know that this is a development we need to be aware of, especially since the Philippines is entering an election period. And as a “friend” of the US set to receive an “unprecedented $500 million” aid, one can be sure that there will be a payback time.
As we elect new senators next year, we need to be aware of how the US will try to influence our elections to push for the US agenda (Read this and this to understand why the Philippines is important for the US geopolitical interests].
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