Venezuelan officials rescinded an invitation to the European Union to observe the upcoming July 28 presidential elections, another stark sign that President Nicolás Maduro is unlikely to cede power despite allowing an opposition candidate to run against him.
After months of intensified repression by the Maduro government — which banned legitimate challengers from the ballot, jailed political opponents and cracked down on civil society — the country’s electoral authority surprised many in April when it allowed the former diplomat Edmundo González to register as an opposition candidate.
The Venezuelan government has been choked by sanctions from the United States and the European Union on the country’s vital oil industry, and some experts say Mr. Maduro allowed Mr. González to run only because it might help him sway Washington and its allies to ease up on the penalties.
The president of the council, Elvis Amoroso, said in a televised broadcast that he was rescinding the invitation until the E.U.
lifted “the unilateral and genocidal coercive sanctions imposed on our people.”
Persons:
Nicolás Maduro, Edmundo González, Maduro, González, Elvis Amoroso, ”
Organizations:
European Union, Venezuelan
Locations:
United States, Washington