Venezuela: The days of usurpation are numbered

The EPP Group calls for the winner of Venezuela's presidential election, Edmundo González Urrutia, to be recognised as the country's president-elect.

”We have the sad duty to continue to defend democracy in Venezuela. It is a deception, but hardly a surprise, that some still insist that Maduro’s Venezuela is anything but a dictatorship. There can be no half-measures here. We must unwaveringly support Venezuela's democratic and peaceful opposition in its fight for freedom. In the EPP Group, we firmly believe that when it comes to democracy, there are no ‘ifs’ or ‘buts’—we must stand firm for what is right,” says Gabriel Mato Adrover MEP ahead of today's plenary debate.

“Nicolás Maduro's so-called inauguration was yet another sad act in a tragedy that has unfortunately befallen the Venezuelan people for far too long. This tragedy is also a farce: the whole world has realised that the staging of institutional normality is all that remains of a regime that maintains itself only through the violence it inflicts on its citizens," added Sebastião Bugalho MEP. 

“Edmundo González Urrutia won the Presidential elections but has been barred from returning to his country. Meanwhile, María Corina Machado fearlessly led a pro-democracy demonstration on 9 January, only to be detained by the police and later released, showing the complete denouement of a system based on lies, brutality and the trampling of the most basic freedoms. The EPP Group recognises and praises the commitment and courage of all Venezuelan democrats and supports them in their fight for decency, normal political life and respect for human rights. We stand with the winners of the 2024 Sakharov Prize and for democratic legality in Venezuela. The days of usurpation are numbered,“ Bugalho concludes.

The European Parliament will vote on Thursday on a parliamentary resolution on the current situation in Venezuela.