International
The OAS convenes an extraordinary meeting to address the electoral process in Venezuela
The Organization of American States (OAS), based in Washington, convened an extraordinary meeting to discuss the results of the elections in Venezuela, questioned by the Venezuelan opposition and several countries in the region.
The session of the Permanent Council, which will take place on Wednesday, was convened at the request of twelve member countries, including all the Latin American governments that the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, ordered today to withdraw their diplomatic staff in Caracas.
So far, the organization has not pronounced on the elections, amid the rejection by the international community and the Venezuelan opposition on the results delivered by the National Electoral Council (CNE) that gave victory today to the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro.
Hours earlier, the governments of Uruguay, Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and the Dominican Republic expressed their deep concern about the development of the presidential elections in Venezuela and called for an urgent meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS).
In a joint statement, the countries demand the complete review of the electoral results and emphasize the need for the presence of independent electoral observers to ensure respect for the will of the Venezuelan people, who participated massively and peacefully in the elections.
“The vote count must be transparent and the results should not cast doubt,” the statement says.
Faced with the situation, the governments of these countries announced that they will request an urgent meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) with the aim of issuing a resolution that safeguards the popular will, framed in the Democratic Charter and the fundamental principles of democracy in the region.
With this call to the OAS, the aforementioned countries seek to ensure that democratic values are respected and a fair and transparent electoral process is guaranteed in Venezuela. The signatories consider the intervention of the OAS to resolve the situation and maintain democratic stability in the region to be crucial.
The joint statement reflects the growing international concern about the situation in Venezuela and the determination of these governments to take concrete measures to ensure that the will of the Venezuelan people is respected and that democratic principles prevail.
In its first report, the National Electoral Council (CNE) gave the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, as the winner with 51.20% of the votes, compared to 44.20% of the opponent Edmundo González Urrutia, with 80% counted.
Opposition leader María Corina Machado said that the “new president-elect” is the candidate of the Democratic United Platform (PUD) block, since, she said, with more than 40% of the minutes transmitted by the electoral body, she obtained 70% of the votes, while Maduro, 30%.
For its part, the Government of Peru expelled the Venezuelan diplomats accredited in Peru and gave them a maximum period of 72 hours to leave the country.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that this measure was ordered by the Peruvian Foreign Minister, Javier González-Olaechea, “due to the serious and arbitrary decisions taken today by the Venezuelan regime.”
He added that González-Olaechea “has instructed that the accredited Venezuelan diplomatic functions in Peru be notified that they must leave the country within no more than 72 hours.”
The decision was announced hours after the Government of Venezuela demanded from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay “the immediate withdrawal of their representatives in Venezuelan territory,” in rejection of their “interrenistic actions and statements” about Sunday’s presidential elections.
The Executive of Nicolás Maduro also indicated in a statement that he has decided to “withdraw all diplomatic personnel from the missions” in these seven Latin American countries.
This was due to what he considered “the interference actions and statements of a group of right-wing governments, subordinate to Washington and openly committed to the most sordid ideological postulates of international fascism, (…) that pretend to ignore the electoral results.”
On Monday, the Governments of Uruguay, Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and the Dominican Republic expressed their deep concern about the development of the elections in Venezuela, for which they demanded the complete review of the results and called for an urgent meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS).
The National Electoral Council (CNE) officially proclaimed Maduro as the winner on Monday, after he announced on Sunday night that he obtained 51.2% of the votes, the same result that he gave when 80% of the minutes had been counted and in the absence of more than two million votes to count.
For his part, the candidate of the majority opposition, Edmundo González Urrutia, obtained 44.2% of the votes, according to the first and only public report of the CNE, which did not specify which candidates have gone to the 2,394,268 votes that were not reported.
International
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe on Monday requested that the Supreme Court restore his freedom while he appeals the historic 12-year house arrest sentence he received for bribery and procedural fraud.
Uribe, the most prominent figure of Colombia’s right wing, was convicted last week by a lower court for attempting to bribe paramilitary members into denying his ties to the violent anti-guerrilla squads.
Since Friday, the 73-year-old has been under house arrest at his residence in Rionegro, about 30 km from Medellín. The judge justified the measure by citing a risk of flight.
However, Uribe’s defense team rejected that argument and formally petitioned the court to immediately lift the detention order, claiming it lacks legal basis.
Uribe, a dominant force in Colombian politics for decades, is now the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted and placed under arrest, found guilty of witness tampering and obstruction of justice to prevent links to paramilitary groups.
He has repeatedly denounced the trial as politically motivated, blaming pressure from the leftist government currently in power.
His political party, Centro Democrático, has called for nationwide protests on August 7 in support of Uribe, who remains popular for his hardline stance against guerrilla groups.
Uribe has until August 13 to submit his written appeal. The case will then move to the Bogotá High Court, which has until October 16 to uphold, overturn, or dismiss the sentence. If the deadline passes without a decision, the case will be archived.
International
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
The poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean is currently engulfed in a deep political crisis and a wave of violence driven by armed groups — a situation that an international security mission led by Kenya is attempting to stabilize.
Due to the worsening security conditions, the U.S. government has suspended all official movements of embassy personnel outside the compound in Port-au-Prince, the U.S. State Department announced Monday in a security alert posted on social media platform X.
“There are intense gunfights in the Tabarre neighborhood, near the U.S. Embassy,” the alert reads, urging the public to avoid the area.
Tabarre is a municipality located near Port-au-Prince International Airport, northeast of the Haitian capital.
According to a July report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 3,141 people were killed in Haitibetween January 1 and June 30 of this year.
International
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.
“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”
The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.
The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.
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Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction