Far-right Venezuelan politician Maria Corina Machado holding a poster for the PUD candidate Edmundo Gonzalez in a political rally in Maracaibo, Zulia state. Photo: X/@ReporteYa.
The Venezuelan Public Ministry announced the opening of a criminal investigation against former candidate Edmundo González and María Machado following the publication of a statement in which they proclaimed themselves as winners of the presidential elections.
According to the attorney general of Venezuela, Tarek William Saab, the investigation is aimed at determining their responsibility in the alleged commission of multiple crimes that threaten the peace of the Venezuelan people.
In the document signed by Gonzalez and Machado, the far-right politicians incite members of the police and military to disobey the law in a narrative similar to the one used during the self-proclamation of former deputy Juan Guaidó in 2019.
Attorney General Saab said that there is evidence that González committed the following crimes due to the statements the US-backed opposition candidate has released: usurpation of functions, dissemination of false information to cause anxiety, incitement to disobedience of the laws, incitement to insurrection, criminal association, and conspiracy.
El Ministerio Público de la República Bolivariana de #Venezuela ante el írrito comunicado difundido por Edmundo González y María Machado: #informa la apertura de una #Investigación Penal a fin de determinar su responsabilidad ante la presunta comisión de múltiples delitos #aquí… pic.twitter.com/229YZWFMkM
— Tarek William Saab (@TarekWiliamSaab) August 5, 2024
The full unofficial translation of the statement is below:
The Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela informs the country that as a consequence of the dissemination of a statement by former candidate Edmundo González and citizen María Corina Machado where, outside the Constitution and the Law, they falsely announce a winner of the presidential elections other than the one proclaimed by the National Electoral Council, the only body qualified to do so, and in which there is an open incitement to police and military officials to disobedience of the laws; it has decided to open a criminal investigation into both signatories of the invalid document.
The aforementioned statement shows the alleged commission of the crimes of usurpation of functions, dissemination of false information to cause anxiety, instigation to disobedience of the laws, instigation to insurrection, criminal association, and conspiracy.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office, as the head of criminal proceedings, in its duty to guarantee peace and stability in the country, will remain vigilant against any act that implies the generation of violence or anxiety in the population and that seeks to repeat events that have left painful wounds in the entire Venezuelan family.
Earlier announcement
On Monday morning, Attorney General Saab stated that there were no arrest warrants against María Corina Machado or Edmundo González. “I want to know the orders, to see them, because there are none. They do not exist at this time. There is a general investigation that has had as a direct effect the arrest of people who burned public buildings with people inside, that is very serious … any leader who calls for actions linked to terrorist acts will be arrested,” he said in an interview with the Colombian radio station Caracol Noticias.
Since last Monday, July 29, reports about alleged arrest warrants against María Corina Machado or Edmundo González has been spread by extreme-right news outlets and journalists on the payroll of Machado’s Vente Venezuela political organization. US deputy secretary for the Western Hemisphere published a post on this issue that same day.
Saab also listed some of the violent acts that occurred last Monday and Tuesday in Venezuela and were instigated by the US-backed opposition. “They tried to burn down the Mayor’s Office in Puerto La Cruz, Anzoátegui state, and there were 10 people there, and when they tried to burn down the headquarters of the ruling party in El Tigre, there were 20 people inside.”
(Últimas Noticias) by Odry Farnetano with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
