The United States on Friday warned Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of additional measures if he does not “do the right thing” and publish detailed records of the results of the July 28 vote, a day after sanctioning 16 Chavista officials.
“We have issued sanctions. We’re not going to rule out anything in the future,” White House Homeland Security spokesman John Kirby said in a telephone briefing.
The official added that Maduro “has options and decisions that only he can make” and “the first decision he must make is to publish all the data and election results so that the world can see how these elections were conducted and how and to what extent the will of the Venezuelan people was truly fulfilled.”
“The most important decision for him right now is whether he’s going to do the right thing for the Venezuelan people. He has to make that decision. And if he doesn’t, we’ll have to make some additional decisions on our own,” Kirby added.
On Thursday, the United States sanctioned 16 Venezuelan officials, including members of the Supreme Court of Justice, the National Electoral Council (CNE) and the National Assembly, for “obstructing the Venezuelan presidential electoral process.”
Among those sanctioned are the president of the Supreme Court, Caryslia Rodríguez; the president of the Civil Registry and Electoral Commission of the CNE, Rosalba Gil Pacheco; and the vice president of the National Assembly, Pedro Infante Aparicio.
Similarly, the State Department banned entry into the country to “Maduro-aligned officials who have undermined the electoral process in Venezuela and who are responsible for acts of repression.”
Reactions in Venezuela
Earlier, officials from the Supreme Court and the electoral branch of Venezuela had repudiated these sanctions.
“We are not going to bow down to them,” said Venezuelan Supreme Court President Caryslia Rodriguez, on the list of The new ones sanctioned by the United Stateswhich he described as “a new colonialist action.”
The CNE also issued a statement rejecting what it considered to be an “infamous act of interference committed by the United States government.”
“The aim is to target and intimidate a group of Venezuelan public servants, including the head of the National Electoral Council, Rosalba Gil Pacheco, and her secretary, Antonio José Meneses Rodríguez.”
In the statement, the CNE demands that the United States not “get involved in the internal affairs” of the organization.
“We are not subject to blackmail, nor do we allow ourselves to be intimidated by the imperial scourge,” the Armed Forces said in a statement read on state television by the Minister of Defense, General Vladimir Padrino López, accompanied by the high military command.
[Con reporte de Celia Mendoza]
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