Venezuelan opposition rejects election results and Maduro's victory, recalling ambassadors from countries not recognizing re-election

(Patria) - Caracas is recalling its diplomats from Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, and Chile, which have refused to recognize the re-election of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, TASS reported.

"The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has decided to recall all members of its diplomatic missions in Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay due to a heinous precedent, which is an attack on our sovereignty, and also demands that the governments of these countries withdraw their diplomats from Venezuela," the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The Ministry condemned the statements of these countries regarding the presidential elections in Venezuela as interference in the internal affairs of the nation.

"The Venezuelan government reserves the right to take political and legal measures to guarantee the protection of the right to self-determination. The Venezuelan government will resist all activities that threaten peaceful coexistence," the ministry added.

Presidential elections were held in Venezuela on July 28. According to the National Electoral Council, with 80% of the ballots counted, current head of state Maduro received 51.2% of the votes.

His main opponent, Edmundo Gonzalez, who represented far-right parties, won 44.2%.

Maduro (61) addressed supporters at the presidential palace minutes after the announcement to celebrate the results, AFP reported.

"I can say before the people of Venezuela and the world, I am Nicolas Maduro Moros, the re-elected president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela," Maduro said.

"There will be peace, stability, and justice. Peace and respect for the law."

But the Venezuelan opposition coalition insisted it had won 70 percent of the votes, rejecting the electoral body's figures.

"We want to tell all of Venezuela and the world that Venezuela has a new president, and that is Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia," opposition leader Maria Corina Machado told reporters, adding: "We won".

Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves also condemned the official result as "false," while the President of Chile described it as "difficult to believe." Peru announced it had recalled its ambassador for consultations on the results. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed "serious concern" that the result does not reflect the will of Venezuelan voters.

Independent polls had predicted that Sunday's vote would bring an end to 25 years of "Chavismo," the movement founded by Maduro's socialist predecessor and mentor, the late Hugo Chavez.

Maduro has led the once-wealthy oil state since 2013, during which time its GDP has fallen by eighty percent in a decade, forcing more than seven out of thirty million of its citizens to emigrate. He has been accused of jailing critics and harassing the opposition in a climate of growing authoritarianism.

Gonzalez Urrutia replaced the popular Machado on the ticket after authorities barred her from the race. Machado, who campaigned for her proxy, urged voters on Sunday to "be" at their polling stations in the "decisive hours" of counting amid widespread fears of fraud.

Gonzalez Urrutia said the opposition was "ready to defend" the vote and believed that "our armed forces will respect the decision of our people." He added that there had been a "massive" voter turnout.

The opposition deployed about 90,000 volunteer observers to polling stations across the country. Sunday's elections were the product of an mediated agreement reached last year between the government and the opposition. The agreement to hold the vote led to the United States temporarily easing sanctions imposed after Maduro's 2018 re-election, which dozens of Western and Latin American countries had dismissed as fraudulent.

Sanctions were reinstated after Maduro reneged on the agreed terms.

Most Venezuelans live on just a few dollars a month, with the country's health and education systems in disrepair, and the population suffering from major electricity and fuel shortages.

The government blames sanctions, but observers also point to government corruption and inefficiency.
Machado said earlier on Sunday that if Maduro "wins power," another "three, four, five million" Venezuelans would likely join the exodus.