(United Nations) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern to President Nicolas Maduro about “human rights violations” in Venezuela on Friday in the first telephone conversation between the two men since the disputed July 28 presidential election.
Mr. Guterres “expressed concern at reports of post-election violence and human rights violations [et] stressed the need to resolve political differences peacefully, through genuine and inclusive dialogue,” the statement from the spokesperson’s office said.
The Secretary-General also “took note of the positions of the Venezuelan President on the situation.”
Socialist President Nicolas Maduro, whose victory was validated by the Supreme Court on August 22, was declared the winner with 52% of the vote by the National Electoral Council (CNE), which has not, however, made public the minutes of the polling stations, arguing that it was hacked.
PHOTO FRANCISCO BATISTA, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENCY, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
This computer attack is considered to be implausible by the opposition and by many observers who see it as a maneuver by the government to avoid publishing the detailed results.
According to the opposition, which published the minutes provided by its scrutineers, its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who has now found asylum in Spain, obtained more than 60% of the votes.
PHOTO FERNANDO CALVO, MONCLOA, PROVIDED BY AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez
On Friday afternoon, seven American countries – Argentina, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay and Uruguay – asked the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva to investigate “serious violations” in Venezuela.
The seven countries launched an “urgent appeal to the United Nations Human Rights Council for the Venezuelan government to end the intensification of repression following the last elections and to investigate serious human rights violations, which could constitute crimes against humanity,” the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
They also called for “an impartial verification of the election results” and “the immediate release of those arbitrarily detained.”
The repression of spontaneous protests that followed the announcement of Mr Maduro’s re-election left 27 dead and 192 injured. Some 2,400 people were arrested, according to official sources.