Venezuela on Tuesday did not invite the EU observer mission to July’s presidential elections and called for the lifting of sanctions.
Elvis AmorosoThe head of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) demanded on Tuesday that “the EU completely lifts the unilateral and genocidal coercive sanctions imposed on our people and ceases its hostile position against Venezuela.”
EU representatives are not welcome in the South American country, Amoroso said.
The CNE had made this decision based on “its sovereignty” and taking into account the “incalculable financial damage” that the sanctions had caused to people.
In addition, these punitive measures affected “the health of children and the elderly,” he said.
The EU introduced sanctions against Venezuela in 2017. The measures include an “embargo on weapons and equipment for internal repression” and “a travel ban and asset freeze on 54 officials responsible for human rights abuses and for undermining democracy and rule.” of the law in Venezuela,” Brussels said.
The CNE’s announcement came about two weeks after the EU temporarily lifted sanctions on four officials linked to the electoral authority, including Amoroso.
However, the Venezuelan government and Amoroso rejected the measure, saying it was not enough and calling for the lifting of all sanctions.
President Nicolás Maduro will attempt to secure his third term in office in the July 28 elections. He is running against former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia of the opposition alliance Unidad Venezuela.
Urrutia was nominated as a replacement candidate for opposition leader María Corina Machado, who has been banished from office. Critics believe the elections will be neither free nor fair.
Venezuela has been in a serious political and economic crisis for years. According to United Nations figures, more than 7 million people have left the country in recent years due to poverty and violence, most of them to Colombia.
