Venezuela’s Electoral Power Ratifies Revocation of EU Observation Invitation (+EU Rebukes)

Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—The Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE) has agreed to ratify the call for over 200 electoral and human rights organizations and personalities to participate as observers in the upcoming presidential elections. The CNE’s president, Elvis Amosoro, also announced the revocation of the invitation it made to the European Union (EU), as a result of its ongoing colonial behavior following their continued ratification of coercive, unilateral sanctions against the Venezuelan people.

Amosoro made the announcement this Tuesday, May 28, in a joint press conference accompanied by the CNE board of directors from its headquarters in Caracas. He read a statement explaining that the decision was taken in response to the mid-May EU decision to renew illegal sanctions against 50 Venezuelan officials, and their performative temporary lifting of personal sanctions on Amoroso and three former CNE officials.

The CNE ratified the broad call for international observation for the upcoming presidential elections, emphasizing that this is in place “under the conditions that those who participate comply with Venezuelan legislation regulating these matters.”

The invited organizations include: the Carter Center, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Inter-American Union of Electoral Organizations, a UN panel of experts, the African Union, the Council of Electoral Experts of Latin America, and the Observatory of Strategic Thinking for Regional Integration (Opeir), among others.

Venezuela’s CNE President Condemns European Union ‘Sanction Relief’

Amoroso strongly rejected the mid-May EU announcement, labeling it as neo-colonial policy and a blackmail mechanism to interfere in the upcoming Venezuelan presidential elections. “It would be unworthy and disloyal to accept this ‘gift’ from the European Union just for me,” the CNE president said, referring to the EU’s performative temporary lifting of personal sanctions on him and other CNE officials, “while leaving 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.”

“It is public knowledge that on May 13 of this year, the European Union, in its historical colonial position, ratified the coercive and unilateral sanctions imposed on the sovereign people of Venezuela, a situation that threatens the inhabitants, sovereignty, independence of our mation,” reads the CNE statement. “As a consequence of this, the Electoral Power of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela revokes and nullifies the invitation it extended to the European Union to participate, through an Electoral Oversight Mission, in the election of the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, a decision adopted in the exercise of our sovereignty and the interests of the people.”

The Venezuelan National Assembly passed a resolution on May 14 asking the CNE to revoke the invitation to the European Union in response to its actions connected with illegal sanctions.

Comunicación Unión Europea, 28 de mayo 2024. pic.twitter.com/yOiIDOZkjn
— Unión Europea en Venezuela 🇪🇺🇻🇪 (@UEenVenezuela) May 29, 2024

On Tuesday night, the EU, which had not yet confirmed its participation as observer in the first place, released a statement regretting the decision of the Venezuelan electoral branch, adding that the Venezuelan people should be able to choose their president in “credible, transparent, and competitive elections.” Additionally, the EU asked the CNE to reconsider the decision, as, according to the organization, the invitation was part of the Barbados Agreement.

The EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Affairs, Josep Borrell, had said on Monday that he would announce the decision on sending an observation mission for the presidential elections “in due time.”

This Wednesday, May 29, the CNE called for the press conference where Elvis Amoroso read the statement ratifying the decision. “The electoral power of Venezuela repudiates the unusual statement by the European Union in which considerations are issued that are the exclusive responsibility of Venezuelans,” said Amoroso. He referred to the EU as an “aggressive and biased actor,” that he accused of being an “interventionist actor that seeks to interfere in the decisions of the National Electoral Council.”

“The decisions made by the National Electoral Council are made in the exercise of sovereignty, and in the particular case of revoking the invitation to the European Union, it responds to the hostile and disrespectful attitude of this bloc against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” Amoroso reiterated. The CNE president mentioned that the decision signed by the CNE’s executive board would be sent in writing to the EU so that they understand that they are personae non gratae.

Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff

OT/JRE/AU