US condemns “unjustified” arrest warrant against Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate

Washington, September 4 (IANS): The United States on Wednesday strongly condemned a Venezuelan court's “unjustified” arrest warrant against former opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, who alleged massive irregularities in the recent elections in the Latin American country.

“Gonzalez Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela's July 28 presidential election, and this arbitrary and politically motivated action marks a low point in Nicolás Maduro's ruthless persecution of his political opponents following his attempts to rig the July 28 presidential election,” U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

“Maduro and his representatives cannot indefinitely suppress the legitimate aspirations of the Venezuelan people and maintain power by force. The will of the people and their rights must be respected,” he added.

The United States reiterated its call for the immediate and unconditional release of those wrongfully detained and urged that the way forward must be a peaceful, transparent and inclusive democratic transition process that puts the welfare of Venezuelans at its core.

Venezuela's Attorney General's Office had previously requested an arrest warrant against Urrutia. He is accused of various charges, including conspiracy, abuse of power and sabotage.

Gonzalez, it was said, had ignored three subpoenas to appear before prosecutors investigating him and to testify in court about his alleged involvement in “crimes related to the July 28 presidential election.”

After losing the July 28 presidential election, González and another opposition presidential candidate, Maria Corina Machado, refused to recognize Nicolás Maduro's victory, claiming the result was full of irregularities.

Maduro received 5,150,092 valid votes in the election, representing 51.2 percent of the total votes cast, according to Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE). Gonzalez received 4,445,978 votes, or 44.2 percent of the total, according to the CNE.

The National Electoral Council announced that the court's electoral chamber had confirmed the result of the presidential election, saying the ruling had been “fully and unequivocally confirmed” by national and international electoral experts who participated in the verification process.