As protests against President Nicolás Maduro flared up across the country on Saturday, Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia thanked the United States for acknowledging his victory in last week’s election.
The United States joined Uruguay, Argentina and Peru in rejecting the official election results that claimed Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, as the winner.
“We thank the United States for recognizing the will of the Venezuelan people as reflected in our electoral victory and for supporting the process of restoring democratic norms in Venezuela,” González Urrutia wrote on X.
Gonzalez Urrutia and Ripe both took victory in the vote on July 28.
The Maduro-controlled National Electoral Council’s vote count determined the incumbent received 51% of the vote in the July 28 election, but the US found no evidence to support the claim.
Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said on Thursday that these results were “deeply flawed” and not representative of “the will of the Venezuelan people” in a statement was released by the State Department.
In fact, the US found “overwhelming evidence” that González “won the most votes in the election by an insurmountable margin,” Blinken said.
The opposition claims it has poll numbers showing González received roughly 6.2 million votes to Maduro’s 2.7 million.
The election controversy has sparked protests and violence in Venezuela since Monday, and thousands took to the streets again on Saturday in cities across Venezuela and in neighboring Colombia.
Supporters also demonstrated in Miami and Tampa, Florida and in in front of the White House in Washington, DC.
Washington is considering new sanctions on Venezuela after the disputed election results.
With pole wires