The Venezuelan Armed Forces have ratified this Tuesday their “absolute loyalty” to President Nicolás Maduro in response to calls that they consider “desperate and seditious” by the opposition, which on Monday called on the military and police to stand “on the side of the people” after the controversial elections of July 28.
For the Armed Forces, Maduro “has been legitimately reelected,” so the Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino López, has appealed to settle any discrepancy through the Supreme Court of Justice, a body controlled by Chavismo. It will be the one who has “the last word,” which according to Padrino demonstrates “the strength of the democratic institutions of the country.”
The military commanders have directly attacked the main opposition candidate in the last elections, Edmundo González, and his partner María Corina Machado, alleging that “those who today try to claim the character of democrats have a long and dark history as promoters of radical and absolutely unconstitutional, anti-democratic actions, contrary to all laws and the highest interests of the people of Venezuela.”
These actions include the request for “military interventions” and the petition for international sanctions, in line with the interests of the “North American empire” –alluding to the United States–. “Therefore, it is blatantly cynical that now this insurrectional faction of the Venezuelan political opposition is trying to cover itself with a cloak of legality that it has never practiced,” Padrino continued.
According to the minister, the opposition tried to create “fictitious expectations” before the elections, which were supposedly held with “high standards of transparency,” and now they are promoting a script of “violence” with the aim of “controlling the political power that they were unable to achieve with the votes.” In this sense, he has denounced a “wave of terrorism” in the streets and cyberattacks.
The message from Machado and González has also led in the last few hours to an investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office, which is examining whether the two opposition leaders could have perpetrated, among other crimes, instigating insurrection. The opposition maintains that González is the true winner of the presidential elections and a large part of the international community has in vain demanded that Maduro publish the minutes that theoretically support the victory announced by the National Electoral Council (CNE).
