Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was “overwhelming evidence” that the opposition candidate had won the election, even though Nicolás Maduro claimed victory.
The United States on Thursday night recognized Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as the winner of the country’s disputed presidential election.
The announcement, made by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, comes despite the country’s authoritarian president, Nicolas Maduro, and the government-controlled electoral body saying Maduro won Sunday’s election.
Maduro has yet to present clear evidence of his victory, and electoral authorities have not released a vote count. Gonzalez’s campaign says it has tallies from more than 80 percent of voting machines indicating he won the election by an insurmountable margin.
While some leaders have expressed support for Gonzalez in recent days, the United States is the largest country to recognize him as the winner.
The decision is sure to infuriate Maduro, who has long called Washington a meddling imperialist. But it is unclear whether the announcement will have any effect on Maduro’s continued hold on power.
In a statement, Blinken said that “given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States, and more importantly to the Venezuelan people, that Edmundo González Urrutia won the majority of the vote.”
“We congratulate Edmundo González Urrutia on the success of his campaign,” Blinken continued. “Now is the time for Venezuelan parties to begin conversations about a respectful and peaceful transition in accordance with Venezuelan electoral law.”
Maduro did not immediately respond to the statement. But just as it was broadcast, he wrote on X, the social media platform, that he was willing to talk to the US “if the US government is willing to respect sovereignty and stop threatening Venezuela.”
Gonzalez’s candidacy, who has the support of a popular opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, represented the most significant electoral threat to Maduro’s power since he took office in 2013.
The movement that Maduro leads, known as Chavismo, has controlled Venezuela for a quarter-century, since the election of his predecessor, President Hugo Chavez, who once promised a socialist revolution. Under his leadership, the government has become authoritarian, detaining dissidents, forcibly suppressing protests and organizing elections in favor of the ruling party.
Since the election, supporters of Gonzalez and Machado have taken to the streets in protest, prompting repression by security forces and pro-government armed gangs. At least 17 people have died. According to the country’s attorney general, about 750 people have been arrested.
Machado has called on her supporters to march in the capital Caracas on Saturday and hang the Venezuelan flag as a “symbol of freedom.”
While the United States is not alone in casting doubt on the election results, other nations have taken a more flexible approach toward Maduro, clearly believing they can use diplomacy to persuade him to release vote counts from all polling stations, as has been done in previous elections, and recognize the actual result.