Venezuela's National Electoral Council President Elvis Amoroso giving statements to the press in October 2023. Photo: Rayner Peña R./EFE/File photo.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—The European Union (EU) agreed to temporarily lift a series of illegal sanctions against the president of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE), Elvis Amoroso, along with former CNE board directors Socorro Hernández, Xavier Moreno, and Leonardo Morales. Allegedly, this aimed to support the upcoming presidential elections scheduled for July 28.
On Monday, the President of Venezuela’s Electoral Branch, Elvis Amoroso, strongly questioned the EU decision, stating that he did not accept it. “The decision of the European Union to lift the sanctions only to me is contrary to the duty that I have as a Venezuelan to honor and defend the country, its symbols and values, and to safeguard and protect the sovereignty, nationality, territorial integrity, self-determination, and the interests of the nation,” Amoroso stated.
This Monday, May 13, EU Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Peter Stano stated that the decision to temporarily withdraw the sanctions is subject to “the bloc recognizing Venezuela’s democratic progress,” once again showing the neocolonial and extortionary nature of the EU decision.
#EnVideo | Presidente del CNE, Elvis Amoroso, expresó su rechazo hacia las medidas coercitivas y unilaterales tomadas por parte de de la Unión Europea contra Venezuela
🗣''Seria indigno y desleal aceptar esta dádiva de la UE solo para mi y dejar a los 30 millones de… pic.twitter.com/uy4VBl5BCl
— Globovisión (@globovision) May 13, 2024
“It would be unworthy and disloyal to accept this gift from the European Union just for me and leave 30 million Venezuelans affected by the sanctions and blockades imposed by the European Union and other small groups of enemy countries when the right thing to do is lift all the sanctions imposed on the Venezuelan people,” added the CNE president.
The CNE authority continued to say that “the European Union persists in its neocolonial practices without correcting their interventionist errors against Venezuela. With a clumsy move, it seeks to avoid the growing international rejection of these extortion measures.”
Amoroso also demanded the complete cessation and unconditional lifting of all illegal US, EU, and UK sanctions and all other blackmail mechanisms that seek to interfere with Venezuela’s political process. He confirmed that if the EU persists in this hostility against Venezuela, it will be impossible to establish a sincere dialogue with the CNE, which is considered by many to be the best electoral system in the world.
Amoroso was included on the EU sanctions list in November 2020 when he served as Comptroller General of the Republic. Since then, Amoroso’s inclusion on the list has been renewed, most recently in November 2023.
Foreign Minister Gil’s response
On Monday, Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Yván Gil pointed out that, with a “deceptive action,” the EU lifted the illegal sanctions against some CNE officials in an attempt to “supposedly send a signal of good faith or relief. But we flat reject that move.”
Jorge Arreaza: Illegal Sanctions Cost Venezuela Almost $1 Trillion
During his speech at the second meeting of the Group of Friends of the United Nations Charter, which took place in Caracas, Gil stated that this is a new deceptive way of manipulating public opinion and minimizing the negative perception of the effects sanctions have on the Venezuelan people.
“The Venezuelan State is a single state. It cannot be fragmented. It cannot be said: ‘I sanction these officials and not these…’ simply to send a message to make the world think that the European Union is now a block that bowed to international law. Sanctions simply should not exist. They are illegal and illegitimate,” added Minister Gil.
Later, the Venezuelan government released a statement rejecting the EU decision, labeling it neocolonial, illegal, and hostile. The statement considers it an extortionary and interventionist move that might jeopardize the establishment of a sincere dialogue between the EU and Venezuela.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/JRE/SF
