(AFP) – US President Joe Biden met exiled Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia at the White House on Monday and warned authorities in Caracas against carrying out reprisals against peaceful protesters.
Biden and Gonzalez Urrutia, who has been recognized by the United States, Italy, and several Latin American nations as Venezuela’s president-elect, discussed “shared efforts to restore democracy in Venezuela,” the White House said in a statement. Venezuela’s opposition claims that Gonzalez Urrutia won the country’s July 28 election, and the former diplomat has been on an international tour seeking to pressure President Nicolas Maduro to relinquish power.
The White House said Biden and Gonzalez Urrutia agreed that his “campaign victory should be honored through a peaceful transfer back to democratic rule.” “Both leaders also expressed deep concern regarding Nicolas Maduro and his representatives’ unacceptable and indiscriminate use of repression against peaceful protesters, democracy activists, and civil society,” the White House said.
“President Biden noted he would be following the planned January 9 protests in Venezuela closely and emphasized Venezuelans should be allowed to express their political opinions peacefully without fear of reprisal from the military and police,” it added. Popular opposition figurehead Maria Corina Machado has called for mass protests on Thursday, the day before the inauguration of Venezuela’s next president.
Venezuelan electoral authorities declared Maduro the winner shortly after the July 28 vote but have yet to release detailed results. The opposition meanwhile released a large set of polling-site results that showed Gonzalez Urrutia winning by a wide margin.
Gonzalez Urrutia, 75, fled in exile to Spain in September and has pledged to return to his country to be sworn in. The White House said that Biden “reiterated his support for Venezuela’s democratic aspirations and underscored the US commitment to continue to hold Maduro and his representatives accountable for their anti-democratic and repressive actions.”
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