Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said Thursday that the United States should do “much more” amid an electoral dispute in the South American country since July.
The United States is expected to sanction about 60 Venezuelan government officials and their family members in the first punitive measures following the July vote.two sources told Reuters last month.
“The United States should do much more,” Machado said in a virtual press conference. “Companies must understand that it is in their best interest, as well as that of Venezuela’s creditors, that the transition takes place as quickly as possible”.
Machado, a 56-year-old industrial engineer, was the driving force behind the opposition coalition that ran for president for the first time in 10 years.
The opposition leader, who was banned from holding public office by the country’s highest court in January, said the opposition had 84% of the votes. from the minutes issued by the voting machines and which declared former diplomat Edmundo González the winner.
The government of President Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner by the National Electoral Council (CNE) with 51.2% of the votes, while González obtained 44% of the votes counted.
The CNE, an organization seen by critics and opponents as an ally of the ruling party, has not disclosed the total votes nor broken them down by state or polling station, as has been the case throughout Venezuela.
The opposition, some Western countries and international bodies such as a United Nations panel of experts have said the vote was not transparent and demanded the publication of full counts, with some openly denouncing fraud.
Many countries, including the United States, have also criticized an arrest warrant issued Monday against Gonzalez.which followed weeks of comments by senior government officials that the former opposition candidate and other opposition members should go to jail.
The government calls the opposition a fascist movement allied with imperialist forces abroad and blames it for the deaths in the protests. Opponents accuse the government of carrying out a campaign of repression.
