The National Assembly of Venezuela declared this Tuesday (7) several former Latin American presidents as “persona non grata” due to interference in Venezuelan affairs.
“If they dare step with the sole of their filthy foot on the soil of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, they must be treated as invaders,” said the president of the Venezuelan Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez.
The assembly unanimously approved the measure after statements made by former leaders in support of the
Rodriguez accused former presidents of trying to destabilize Venezuela during the next presidential inauguration.
Maduro is due to assume a third term this Friday (10) after a contested election last year that
Among those declared unwanted by Rodriguez are Andres Pastrana of Colombia and Felipe Calderon and Vicente Fox of Mexico.
The president of the Venezuelan Assembly also alleged that some of the former leaders are linked to crimes such as drug trafficking and corruption.
Understand the crisis in Venezuela
The Venezuelan opposition and the majority of the international community do not recognize the official results of the July 28 presidential elections, announced by the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela, which give victory to Nicolás Maduro with more than 50% of the votes.
The CNE results were never corroborated with the release of electoral records that detail the number of votes per polling table.
The opposition, in turn, published the minutes that it says it received from its party inspectors and that would give victory by almost 70% of the votes to former diplomat Edmundo González, an ally of María Corina Machado, an opposition leader who was prevented from running for office. .
Chavismo claims that 80% of the documents released by the opposition are falsified. Maduro’s allies, however, do not show any electoral records.
The Venezuelan Public Ministry, in turn, initiated an investigation against González for publishing the minutes, alleging usurpation of electoral power functions.
The opponent was summoned three times to give testimony about the publication of the minutes and ended up taking refuge in Spain at the beginning of September, after having an arrest warrant issued against him.
Several opponents have been arrested since the beginning of the electoral process in Venezuela. Only after the July 28 election, at least 2,400 people were arrested and 24 died, according to human rights organizations.
