Venezuela responds to criticism by withdrawing diplomatic personnel in 7 countries in the region

Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino announced on Monday that he would withdraw his diplomatic staff in Caracas and put relations with Venezuela “on hold,” in a show of his questioning the election results presidential, unknown by several countries moreover, the official proclamation of Nicolás Maduro as president for another six years.

In response, the Venezuelan government announced that it would bring back all of its diplomatic personnel from the Panamanian mission and six others. Foreign Minister Yvan Gil issued a statement on the withdrawal of representatives from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay, in addition to Panama, and asked those nations to do the same with their personnel in Venezuela.

He described the positions of neighbouring countries as “interventionist”, accused them of being “subordinate” to Washington and linked them to the ideology of “international fascism”. The foreign minister’s statement also pointed out that the government reserves the right to defend and “enforce respect” its right to self-determination.

He did not specify what would happen to the Venezuelans close to the opposition campaign of Machado who are refugees in the Argentine embassy in Caracas.

The announcement came hours after Panama’s decision, which was the strongest stance taken by a government in the region so far on the elections in Venezuela.

In its decision, Panama applied a doctrine that considers that “regimes that do not respect human rights and violate freedoms do not deserve diplomatic recognition,” Mulino explained at a press conference in which he demanded the revision of the electoral records in Venezuela. “Too many abuses have occurred in Venezuela,” the president stressed.

Hours later, the Venezuelan government said in a statement that it would temporarily suspend commercial flights to and from Panama and the Dominican Republic starting July 31. The decision will further affect Venezuela’s air connectivity, which has been limited for at least five years due to sanctions faced by the Maduro government.

Peru, for its part, issued a statement warning Venezuelan diplomatic officials accredited in Lima that they have 72 hours to leave the country “due to the serious and arbitrary decisions taken today by the Venezuelan regime.”

On Monday, Venezuela’s National Electoral Council officially proclaimed Maduro president, his second re-election in six years, after releasing results on Sunday night that gave the president the electoral victory with 51% of the votes compared to 44% for Edmundo González.

The opposition candidate and the coalition he represented at the polls denounced serious irregularities in the counting process at the end of the election day.

Panama had expressed hope that the results of the elections in Venezuela would help stop the incessant and massive migration of citizens originating in that nation and crossing the Darien jungle, on the border with Colombia, heading for North America.

Following the announcement of the election results, more than a dozen countries on the continent, including the United States, Argentina, Chile and Costa Rica, questioned the transparency with which the Venezuelan electoral authority carried out the process and even rejected Maduro’s announced victory.

Doubts about the scrutiny

Reactions from other nations also followed on Monday, with messages from several countries questioning the results and calling for the records to be made public.

Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay have expressed their deep concern about the conduct of the elections and demanded a complete review of the votes in the presence of independent electoral observers.

They also announced that they will request an urgent meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) “to issue a resolution to safeguard the popular will.” The OAS, which has not commented on the issue, called for an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday to address the matter.

The United States and Chile expressed a similar attitude of rejection and concern on Sunday night.

“The international community must continue to exert pressure so that the will of the Venezuelan people ultimately prevails,” said Jason Marczak, an expert on Latin American affairs at the Atlantic Council in Washington. “Not doing so would be complicit,” he said at the opening of a virtual conference of analysts on Venezuela.

Meanwhile, some leftist governments, which are unconditional allies of the Venezuelan president, have shown him unwavering support.

Honduran Vice-Chancellor Gerardo Torres said that President Xiomara Castro’s congratulations to Nicolás Maduro are added to the recognition made by other nations around the world such as Bolivia, Nicaragua, Russia and China. “Today other countries are quite paranoid, quite demanding and are asking for recounts and recounts, things that are not asked for in any other country,” the official questioned.

Tensions between Panama and Venezuela had already risen in recent days. Both countries had been without ambassadors for several years.

This week, before the elections, the Mulino government denounced the “unilateral” closure of airspace by the Venezuelan government to a plane belonging to the Panamanian airline Copa that was due to leave Panama City on Friday and was carrying a group of former Latin American presidents who were going to accompany the opposition candidate in the elections. In the end, they had to get off the plane and were unable to travel.

“What happened yesterday is an assault on the free, open and transparent democratic system. We cannot look the other way in the face of this attempted institutional coup against the sovereign decision of the Venezuelan people,” said the Panamanian president regarding the election day.

Several leaders also spoke out on social media.

One of the most critical was the far-right president of Argentina, Javier Milei, who on his X account wrote successive messages attacking the Venezuelan president. The first of them in capital letters said “Dictator Maduro, out!!!” and stated that “the data announces a crushing victory for the opposition and the world is waiting for him to recognize the defeat after years of socialism, misery, decadence and death.”

The Argentine leader then published a video in which he stated that “the most important thing is that the Venezuelan lions have woken up and sooner or later socialism will end” and encouraged the inhabitants of Venezuela to continue “fighting.”

From Ecuador, President Daniel Noboa stated that there are politicians who “try to cling to power,” while the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry rejected “the lack of transparency in the elections” and noted that “the absence of guarantees in the process of publishing the results… delegitimizes and vitiates the results.”

The Costa Rican government has called Maduro’s victory declaration fraudulent. Meanwhile, Javier González-Olaechea, Peru’s foreign minister, has recalled his ambassador in Caracas for consultations after condemning “the accumulation of irregularities with the intention of fraud.”

Nayib Bukele was also blunt in calling the election a “fraud” and questioning the fact that the official result has no relation to reality” and that it is “something obvious to anyone.” The Salvadoran president recalled in a message on social media that his country broke diplomatic relations with Maduro’s Venezuela four years ago.

Left-wing leaders also question

Questions also came from leftist leaders in the region. Chilean Gabriel Boric told reporters that “an election that generates so much expectation has to be absolutely transparent” and verified by independent international observers.

Boric questioned that “the Maduro regime must understand that the results it publishes are difficult to believe.” He also stated that as long as his country does not have “all the records that could verify that election” it will refrain from recognizing the official result.

His Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, did not immediately comment, but Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo called for a full vote count and an “independent audit” to be carried out “as soon as possible.”

Later, the Colombian Foreign Ministry urged Venezuela to “reject violence, preserve peace, and prioritize dialogue.”

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva also remained silent, although the Foreign Ministry of the influential Latin American country said it was closely following the vote count and stated that it was awaiting the publication of “disaggregated data by voting table,” which it considered “essential for the transparency, credibility and legitimacy of the election results.”

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a traditional ally of Maduro, remained cautious. He said he has information that the electoral body is giving Maduro the victory with 80% of the votes counted and added that “we have to wait until 100% is in.”

However, he pointed out that “if the electoral authority (Venezuela) confirms this trend” his government will recognize the official results.

Those closest to the Bolivarian regime congratulated Maduro. Bolivian President Luis Arce described the election as a “democratic celebration” that respected the will of the people. Former President Evo Morales stressed that the Venezuelan leader won “against all external adversities.”

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said that “the popular will must be respected” in the face of “the campaign that tries to disown them and external interference.” The Cuban Foreign Ministry reported that leader Raul Castro called Maduro to congratulate him.

From Managua, President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo celebrated Maduro’s “great victory,” although later in a statement they described the international rejection as a “new coup attempt” against Maduro.

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