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Africa Moyo
Deputy News Editor
Venezuela has thanked President Mnangagwa and leaders of other progressive nations for standing by the South American country in the face of unfair attacks following President Nicolás Maduro’s victory in the June 28 elections.
President Maduro received 51 percent of the vote while opposition candidate Mr Edmundo Gonzalez won 44 percent.
But like the Zimbabwe opposition, Mr Gonzalez claims without evidence that the National Electoral Council of Venezuela rigged the polls in favour of President Maduro.
Venezuelan Ambassador-designate to Namibia and Zimbabwe Dr Magaly Henríquez, yesterday thanked Zimbabwe for the support continuously rendered to Caracas.
“We would like to thank our brother and sister countries, especially the Republic of Namibia and Zimbabwe for the support and respect they have always shown to the governments of President (Hugo) Chávez, President Nicolás (Maduro) and the people of Venezuela. We will always defend stability and peace among nations,” said Dr Henríquez.
Other leaders who have congratulated President Maduro include those from Cuba, Russia, Iran, China, Turkey, Belarus, Serbia, Bolivia, Qatar, Syria, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Nicaragua, Palestine, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Guinea-Bissau, Tanzania and Madagascar.
Before the June 28 elections, the opposition, especially Mr Gonzalez and Ms Maria Corina Machado, declared they would not accept the electoral results if they were not the winners despite not campaigning.
As was done by former CCC leader Mr Nelson Chamisa, Mr Gonzalez refused to sign the agreement of recognition of the electoral results signed by the rest of the candidates, as happened in the past.
In the 25 years of Venezuela’s revolution, 33 elections have been held, with the opposition only accepting the results of the first two elections.
Dr Henríquez said the opposition, mainly backed by the United States, had always rejected electoral results, “but have never presented evidence and they have only called for acts of violence”.
“It is important to highlight that the Venezuelan extreme right wing has always been supported and financed by the US; even videos have been taken of the opposition meeting with high ranking American officials, requesting the intervention of this country in our territory; they have even requested sanctions to suffocate our economy.
“In spite of these difficult years with more than 900 sanctions against Venezuela, and where we went through moments of shortages, food and basic supplies were not available, today we can say that in the year 2023 we had a comprehensive economic growth in Venezuela that exceeded 5 percent of the gross domestic product, the highest increase in Latin America and the Caribbean, while for the year 2024 a growth of 8 percent in GDP was projected,” said Dr Henriquez.
Over 900 international observers from across the world, including 24 electoral organisations from Africa such as the Parliamentary Forum of SADC and the Pan-African Parliament, participated in the Venezuelan elections. After the electoral loss, there were some fascist attacks to public institutions as well as to symbolic monuments of the revolution such as statues of Comandante Chávez and public transport and other key areas, at the instigation of the opposition.
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