In seeking to forge new relations, Venezuela's Maduro congratulates Trump on election win
By Mark Moran & Darryl Coote
Nov. 8, 2024 /
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro celebrates after partial results were announced by the electoral council, in Caracas, Venezuela in 2024. Maduro has extended an olive branch to U.S. President-elected Donald Trump following Trump's victory Tuesday, widely seen a move to improve relations between Venezuela and the U.S. in Trump's second term. File Photo by Ronald Pena R./EPA-EFE
Nov. 7 (UPI) -- The hard-line Venezuelan leader who once called Donald Trump a "racist cowboy" has congratulated the president-elect on his election win over Vice President Kamala Harris -- a gesture being seen as the extension of an olive branch.
Nicolas Maduro, the authoritarian leader of the South American country, has made several comments since Trump's election victory on Tuesday night that suggest an eagerness to patch up their adversarial relationship.
His foreign ministry first congratulated the American people and Trump on his election in a statement, saying Venezuela "will also be willing to establish good relations with U.S. government, framed in a spirit of dialogue, respect and common sense."
Then, on his radio program Con Maduro de Repente, which translates to Suddenly with Maduro in English, Maduro commented that Trump has "a golden opportunity ... to pacify the world" and to change the relations the United States has had with Latin American countries, according to state-owned Agencia Venezolana de Noticias news agency.
He called Trump's election an "historic return" and an opportunity to end wars, and foster relationships with other nations.
During Trump's first term in office, the American president waged a "maximum pressure" campaign of sanctions and threats against Maduro in a failed attempt to oust Venezuela's authoritarian leader.
Maduro acknowledged in the radio program that Trump's first term "did not go well for us" but added that "this is a new beginning where we are betting on a win-win scenario, for the United States to do well and for Venezuela to do well," AVN reported.
Moisés Naím, a Venezuelan writer and former minister, told The Guardian that to Maduro, Trump represents "a lifeline."
"He desperately needs international recognition and legitimacy," Naím said of Maduor. "He doesn't want to be a pariah."
However, if Trump attempts to normalize relations with Maduro, Naím expects opposition from South Florida's "deeply anti-Maduro" Venezuelan immigrant community, who are members of Trump's base.
Geoff Ramsey, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, said on X that Maduro is "clearly betting on a fully transactional approach" with Trump.
"He'll likely be disappointed, but [it] highlights an early test to the new admin's balance of democracy vs. migration vs. energy interests with Caracas."
On the campaign trail, Trump stayed relatively mum when it came to Venezuela, aside from focusing on migrants trying to enter the United States from the South American country.
In a statement following Trump's election win, Ramsey said that while it is likely that the president-elect will adopt a more confrontational rhetoric with Venezuela, "he may see more value in containing the outward flow of migration and securing a U.S. and Western footprint in Venezuela's oil sector than in reverting to a maximum-pressure approach."
Venezuela: Court Rejects Appeal By Left-Wing Opposition To Publish Presidential Election Results
November 7, 2024
Source: Green Left
María Alejandra Díaz (left) and Nicolas Maduro.
María Alejandra Díaz (left) and Nicolas Maduro.
Photo: @_TribunaPopular/X and Wikipedia
More than two months after the passing of a 30-day legal deadline, Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) has still not published the full results of the July 28 presidential election.
Despite this, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) rejected an appeal on November 4 calling on it to request the CNE comply with Article 155 of the Organic Law of Electoral Processes and the TSJ’s own August 22 ruling that the electoral body “publish definitive results for the electoral process”.
Instead, the TSJ fined María Alejandra Díaz, the lawyer who lodged the appeal on behalf of various left-wing organisations, and suspended her from professional duties.
According to the CNE, incumbent president Nicolás Maduro won the presidential election with more than 51% of the votes. However, the right-wing opposition has disputed the result, claiming alleged voting centre tally sheets in its possession indicate victory for its candidate, Edmundo González.
Given conflicting claims, publication of the results is required to verify who won.
CNE head Elvis Amoroso promised to do just that on election night, saying this would happen “in the next few hours, as has traditionally occurred” and “in accordance with the law”.
But more than three months on, the CNE’s failure to do so led to the Popular Democratic Front (FDP) lodging its appeal.
The FDP includes left-wing parties and organisations such as Redes, the Popular Historic Bloc, the Communist Party of Venezuela, The Other Campaign, Anti-imperialist Voices, Alternative Popular Movement, In Common and the National Front of Working Class Struggle.
Former presidential candidate Enrique Márquez, who also co-signed the appeal, explained in a November 3 Televen interview that its purpose was to request that the TSJ “demand the CNE publish the results so that not only I as a candidate, but the people can know exactly what occurred”.
He added that “perhaps no one should be more interested in this happening than the government itself, as it would generate clarity about the results, [and] clarity about its own legitimacy based on those results.
“But so far that has not happened. All this does is generate more and more doubts.”
The TSJ instead ruled that by lodging the appeal, Díaz was “questioning and disrespecting the power vested” in the TSJ and “seeking to generate anxiety and commotion in the population”.
As a result, a disciplinary procedure has been opened up against the former legal adviser to the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, with the threat of further punishment hanging over her head.
Díaz denounced the court’s decision in a post on X as “not only an abuse of power, but an overreach and a clear warning to those wanting to exercise their political rights…
“Who will now want to defend political and social causes such as this, if they face such punishment?”
Numerous organisations and individuals have come out in defence of Díaz, including left-wing human rights organisation Surgentes.
In their statement, Surgentes notes that if anyone has been “responsible for generating anxiety and commotion” it has been the CNE “by not publishing the full electoral results and failing to fulfil its legal obligations of transparency and auditability”.
It added the state as a whole was also culpable, for continuing to “insist that the population accept a government that cannot demonstrate that it was elected by a majority [of voters]”.
The decision by the TSJ to reject the appeal is just one of the latest actions taken by the Venezuelan state to repress those who have dared to question Maduro’s victory.
For example, the National Assembly is currently discussing proposed reforms to the electoral system that, according to interior minister Diosdado Cabello, would ban anyone “who does not recognise the results announced by the [CNE]” from being able to participate in elections.
Meanwhile, about 2000 people remain in jail after being arrested during the wave of post-election protests demanding that the people’s vote be respected.
The majority of those in jail, which includes 69 adolescents, hail from poor working-class areas that traditionally voted for Maduro. Most are facing charges of “terrorism” and “inciting hate”.
According to Marquez, this is “the largest number of political prisoners in the entire history of Venezuela. Even if we go back to the time of [military dictator Marco] Pérez Jiménez, there were not as many prisoners…
“This is how the government intends to lead our country, through terror [and] by force.”
Marquez explained: “Those who have been imprisoned have had all their rights violated, they are not allowed visits, they are not allowed to have a private lawyer, they are not allowed the right to a defence, access to the judge is by telephone.
“Imagine a hearing … being held by telephone, where the accused is not even allowed an appearance before the judge.
“Not only are the rights established in the Constitution being violated, but everything established in the Organic Code of Criminal Procedure is being violated. These people are wrongly imprisoned and should be released as soon as possible.”
Federico Fuentes is editor of the Bolivia Rising blog and a regular contributor on Latin American politics.
More than two months after the passing of a 30-day legal deadline, Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) has still not published the full results of the July 28 presidential election.
Despite this, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) rejected an appeal on November 4 calling on it to request the CNE comply with Article 155 of the Organic Law of Electoral Processes and the TSJ’s own August 22 ruling that the electoral body “publish definitive results for the electoral process”.
Instead, the TSJ fined María Alejandra Díaz, the lawyer who lodged the appeal on behalf of various left-wing organisations, and suspended her from professional duties.
According to the CNE, incumbent president Nicolás Maduro won the presidential election with more than 51% of the votes. However, the right-wing opposition has disputed the result, claiming alleged voting centre tally sheets in its possession indicate victory for its candidate, Edmundo González.
Given conflicting claims, publication of the results is required to verify who won.
CNE head Elvis Amoroso promised to do just that on election night, saying this would happen “in the next few hours, as has traditionally occurred” and “in accordance with the law”.
But more than three months on, the CNE’s failure to do so led to the Popular Democratic Front (FDP) lodging its appeal.
The FDP includes left-wing parties and organisations such as Redes, the Popular Historic Bloc, the Communist Party of Venezuela, The Other Campaign, Anti-imperialist Voices, Alternative Popular Movement, In Common and the National Front of Working Class Struggle.
Former presidential candidate Enrique Márquez, who also co-signed the appeal, explained in a November 3 Televen interview that its purpose was to request that the TSJ “demand the CNE publish the results so that not only I as a candidate, but the people can know exactly what occurred”.
He added that “perhaps no one should be more interested in this happening than the government itself, as it would generate clarity about the results, [and] clarity about its own legitimacy based on those results.
“But so far that has not happened. All this does is generate more and more doubts.”
The TSJ instead ruled that by lodging the appeal, Díaz was “questioning and disrespecting the power vested” in the TSJ and “seeking to generate anxiety and commotion in the population”.
As a result, a disciplinary procedure has been opened up against the former legal adviser to the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, with the threat of further punishment hanging over her head.
Díaz denounced the court’s decision in a post on X as “not only an abuse of power, but an overreach and a clear warning to those wanting to exercise their political rights…
“Who will now want to defend political and social causes such as this, if they face such punishment?”
Numerous organisations and individuals have come out in defence of Díaz, including left-wing human rights organisation Surgentes.
In their statement, Surgentes notes that if anyone has been “responsible for generating anxiety and commotion” it has been the CNE “by not publishing the full electoral results and failing to fulfil its legal obligations of transparency and auditability”.
It added the state as a whole was also culpable, for continuing to “insist that the population accept a government that cannot demonstrate that it was elected by a majority [of voters]”.
The decision by the TSJ to reject the appeal is just one of the latest actions taken by the Venezuelan state to repress those who have dared to question Maduro’s victory.
For example, the National Assembly is currently discussing proposed reforms to the electoral system that, according to interior minister Diosdado Cabello, would ban anyone “who does not recognise the results announced by the [CNE]” from being able to participate in elections.
Meanwhile, about 2000 people remain in jail after being arrested during the wave of post-election protests demanding that the people’s vote be respected.
The majority of those in jail, which includes 69 adolescents, hail from poor working-class areas that traditionally voted for Maduro. Most are facing charges of “terrorism” and “inciting hate”.
According to Marquez, this is “the largest number of political prisoners in the entire history of Venezuela. Even if we go back to the time of [military dictator Marco] Pérez Jiménez, there were not as many prisoners…
“This is how the government intends to lead our country, through terror [and] by force.”
Marquez explained: “Those who have been imprisoned have had all their rights violated, they are not allowed visits, they are not allowed to have a private lawyer, they are not allowed the right to a defence, access to the judge is by telephone.
“Imagine a hearing … being held by telephone, where the accused is not even allowed an appearance before the judge.
“Not only are the rights established in the Constitution being violated, but everything established in the Organic Code of Criminal Procedure is being violated. These people are wrongly imprisoned and should be released as soon as possible.”
Federico Fuentes is editor of the Bolivia Rising blog and a regular contributor on Latin American politics.
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