Top U.S. diplomat says 'it is clear' that Nicolás Maduro did not win Venezuela's election
U.S. analysis comes despite Venezuela's electoral authority giving victory to Maduro
The stakes grew higher for Venezuela's electoral authority to show proof backing its decision to declare President Nicolás Maduro the winner of the country's presidential election after the U.S. on Thursday recognized opposition candidate Edmundo González as the victor, discrediting the official results of the highly anticipated vote.
The U.S. Department of State announcement followed calls from multiple governments, including close allies of Maduro, for Venezuela's National Electoral Council to release detailed vote counts, as it has done during previous elections.
The electoral body declared Maduro the winner Monday, but the main opposition coalition revealed hours later that it had evidence to the contrary in the form of more than two-thirds of the tally sheets that each electronic voting machine printed after polls closed.
"Given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States and, most importantly, to the Venezuelan people that Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela's July 28 presidential election," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
Maduro responded with a quick admonishment: "The United States needs to keep its nose out of Venezuela!"
That announcement came amid diplomatic efforts to persuade Maduro to release vote tallies from the election and increasing calls for an independent review of the results, according to officials from Brazil and México.
Pressure to show vote tally sheets
Government officials from Brazil, Colombia and Mexico have been in constant communication with Maduro's administration to convince him that he must show the vote tally sheets from Sunday's election and allow impartial verification, a Brazilian government official told The Associated Press Thursday.
The officials have told Venezuela's government that showing the data is the only way to dispel any doubt in the results, said the Brazilian official, who was not authorized to publicly speak about the diplomatic efforts and requested anonymity.
A Mexican official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason, confirmed that the three governments have been discussing the issue with Venezuela but did not provide details.
Earlier, Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he planned to speak with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and President Gustavo Petro of Colombia, and that his government believes it's important that the electoral tallies be made public.
Later Thursday, the governments of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico issued a joint statement calling on Venezuela's electoral authorities "to move forward expeditiously and publicly release" detailed voting data, but they did not confirm any backroom diplomatic efforts to persuade Maduro's government to publish the vote tallies.
"The fundamental principle of popular sovereignty must be respected through impartial verification of the results," they said in the statement.
Protests, followed by arrests
On Monday, after the National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner of the election, thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets. The government said it arrested hundreds of protesters and Venezuela-based human rights organization Foro Penal said 11 people were killed. Dozens more were arrested the following day, including former a opposition candidate, Freddy Superlano.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado — who was barred from running for president — and González addressed a huge rally of their supporters in the capital, Caracas, on Tuesday, but they have not been seen in public since. Later that day, the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, called for their arrest, calling them criminals and fascists.
In an op-ed published Thursday in the Wall Street Journal, Machado said she is "hiding, fearing for my life, my freedom, and that of my fellow countrymen."
She reasserted that the opposition has physical evidence that Maduro lost the election and urged the international community to intervene.
"We have voted Mr. Maduro out," she wrote. "Now it is up to the international community to decide whether to tolerate a demonstrably illegitimate government."
Government repression over the years has pushed opposition leaders into exile. After the op-ed was published, Machado's team told The Associated Press that she was "sheltering." Machado later posted a video on social media calling on supporters to gather Saturday morning across the country.
The González campaign had no comment on the op-ed.