( Spanish) – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke by telephone on Friday with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the UN said in a statement.
“The Secretary-General expressed concern about reports of post-election violence and human rights violations. He stressed the need to resolve any political disputes peacefully, through genuine and inclusive dialogue,” the statement said, adding that Guterres “also took note of the Venezuelan President’s positions on the situation.”
The conversation was confirmed by Venezuelan authorities, who in turn issued a statement in which they mention that Maduro spoke about the alleged “destabilization attempts” that occurred after the presidential elections on July 28.
The dialogue between Maduro and Guterres comes after the president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, released audio recordings that he said prove that opposition candidate Edmundo González accepted the results of the July 28 elections without being pressured.
González claims that he was coerced into signing the document brought to him by Jorge Rodríguez and his sister, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez. González’s lawyer, José Vicente Haro, described the release of these recordings as “an ambush.”
Venezuela’s majority opposition maintains that González, who left for Spain after receiving political asylum, is really the country’s president-elect, based on tens of thousands of copies of voting records collected by opposition witnesses at polling stations. Maduro’s government maintains that these are false, but, almost two months before the elections, the National Electoral Council has not published the results by polling station and voting center.
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