The Biden administration has started referring to Edmundo González Urrutia as the “president-elect” of Venezuela, a senior administration official said, representing the strongest acknowledgment yet that the opposition candidate won the July presidential election.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken informed partners about the decision in a meeting this Monday (18) during the G20 meetings in Rio de Janeiro, according to the official. Although the US and other countries have previously concluded that González had more votes than current leader Nicolás Maduro, the Biden administration had not gone so far as to use the term “president-elect” until now.
The move aims to increase pressure on Maduro, who claimed to have won the election without providing evidence. Referring to González as “president-elect” does not mean that the US will later call the opposition candidate “legitimate president” after Inauguration Day on January 10, when Maduro hopes to be sworn in for a third term. That term was unsuccessfully applied to another opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, in a failed attempt to remove Maduro from power during the previous Trump administration.
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Venezuela’s Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to return to office in the US on January 20. His nominee to lead the State Department, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, is a longtime advocate of a hard line toward Venezuela and Maduro’s government. It will be up to them to decide whether to move forward with a new assignment for González and engage with Maduro.
Venezuelan bonds remained in negative territory on Tuesday afternoon (19), maintaining the losses recorded after the approval by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives of a bill to toughen sanctions against entities that deal with the Maduro government.
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The Biden administration views the international community and Venezuela’s democratic movement led by González as having given Maduro every opportunity to engage in a dialogue for a peaceful transition that reflects the will of the Venezuelan people, the U.S. official said.
The Biden administration has promoted a more prosperous and secure democratic region and continues to push for a democratic solution as the only path to resolving Venezuela’s economic and humanitarian crisis, the official said.
González, 75, fled to Spain in September, claiming he was coerced into signing a letter recognizing Maduro as the election winner. He has said he will return to his country to be sworn in as president, a plan that appears unlikely with Maduro, 61, firmly entrenched in power.
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Opposition leader María Corina Machado, who helped mobilize support for González after she was barred from running for president, remains in hiding and said she is still in Venezuela.
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