Ventura said that Portugal’s recognition of “candidate A, B or C could be ridiculous if nothing changes in Venezuela” and advocated the “democratic overthrow of Nicolás Maduro.”
The president of Chega considered on Tuesday that Portugal recognizing on paper “candidate A, B or C could be ridiculous if nothing changes in Venezuela.”
André Ventura reacted to the draft resolution of the Liberal Initiative (IL) that recommends the Portuguese Government recognize Edmundo González as the winner of the Venezuelan presidential elections and develop efforts for a broad recognition.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a visit to the Livramento market in Setúbal, the president of Chega also stated that Portugal must support those inside and outside Venezuela who are fighting for the “democratic overthrow of Nicolás Maduro”.
“Recognizing a candidate as the winner? We have already had an experience in the past that did not go well. Putting a piece of paper saying that the Portuguese State recognizes A, B or C could be ridiculous if nothing changes in Caracas,” he said.
André Ventura defended that Portugal should press for the results of the elections in Venezuela and, together with the international community and the European Union, tell Nicolás Maduro that a dictatorship is not acceptable.
“Nicolás Maduro must feel that the European money tap will dry up if he does not accept democratic results, that the European Union will not cooperate for a second longer if he does not accept democratic results and if he threatens neighbouring countries, our European countries, with his economic policy. And politics, together with the United States, must say that we are willing to do anything to remove him from power,” he stressed.
“What I would like Europe to tell Nicolás Maduro is that he cannot cross the line and if he does, he will be removed from power by fair means or foul,” he said.
Venezuela held presidential elections in late July, after which the National Electoral Council (CNE) awarded victory to Maduro with just over 51% of the vote, while the opposition claims that González obtained almost 70% of the vote.
Both dissidents and much of the international community are calling for a transparent recount of the votes.
On Saturday, Portugal, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland called on Venezuelan authorities to quickly release all electoral records, in order to guarantee full transparency and integrity of the electoral process, giving credibility to the records published by the opposition.
Source: Observadora
