White House walks back Biden remarks on new election in Venezuela
The White House has walked back President Joe Biden’s apparent call for a new election in Venezuela after his comment drawn criticism from the Latin American country’s Nicolas Maduro.
Asked by reporters whether he backed new election in Venezuela, Biden on Thursday said “I do”, as the US has backed the opposition that accused Maduro of rigging the election.
Later in the day, a spokesperson for the White House’s National Security Council said Biden "was speaking to the absurdity of Maduro and his representatives not coming clean about the July 28 elections."
“It is abundantly clear that Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes,” White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett added in a message posted to social media.
“We call for the will of the people to be respected and for discussions to begin on a transition back to democratic norms.”
The spokesman’s remarks came after Maduro commented on Biden’s remarks, saying he “completely and absolutely rejects that the US government intends to become the electoral authority of Venezuela or any other place in the world.”
“They have a lot of problems,” he said, tauntingly, of the US, “let them be left with their problems because here in our homeland we Venezuelans are in charge.”
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) said the 61-year-old Maduro won 52 percent of votes cast on July 28, securing a third six-year term in office.
The opposition has claimed that its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia obtained 66% of the votes and is the winner.
The 74-year-old retired diplomat Gonzalez Urrutia had replaced opposition leader Maria Corina Machado after she was barred by a court from running for president over fraud.
Maduro said the two were encouraging a "coup d'etat" against him and fomenting a "civil war situation", that he said, has been neutralized.
Gonzalez Urrutia’s claim to victory has been recognized by the US and several Latin American countries, including Argentina, Uruguay and Peru.
Earlier this month, Maduro accused the US and right-wing American tech entrepreneur Elon Musk of attempting to engineer coups in his country.
“It is a coup orchestrated by the United States and Elon Musk, [Argentinean President Javier] Milei and other ... right-wing fascists,” Maduro asserted.
Maduro, a former bus driver who became president following the death of his mentor Hugo Chavez in 2013, was re-elected in 2018 despite the US-orchestrated opposition.
Since November 2019, the US-led sanctions have pushed inflation in Venezuela to above 4,000 percent.
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