Paraguay urges Venezuela to create an “appropriate environment” for elections

The Chamber of Deputies of Paraguay expressed on Wednesday its concern about the “persistent impediments” to the registration of presidential candidates in Venezuela and urged the regime of Nicolás Maduro to promote a “suitable environment for the holding of legal and transparent elections«.

The declaration, approved during the ordinary session of this day, asked the regime to guarantee “that citizens who meet the requirements established in the Constitutionn» of that country «be duly registered, so that the Venezuelan people can exercise their right to freely elect their next government.«.

In addition, she expressed her solidarity with the opposition members María Corina Machado and Corina Yoris, in the face of “the persistent impediments to the registration of their candidacies» to participate in the elections on July 28.

Machado won the opposition primaries in October 2023 with 92.35% of the vote. However, last January, Venezuela’s Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) upheld a 15-year ban against the opposition leader, which prevents her from running in the elections.

The Unitary Platform then proposed historian Corina Yoris as a candidate, but later announced that it could not formalize its registration after claiming that it was not allowed “access to the nomination system.”

In this context, the Paraguayan deputies positioned themselves “in defense of democratic institutions“, they condemned”the breakdown of the rule of law” and called for “the immediate closure of torture centres and the release of all political prisoners.”

They also expressed their concern: “in view of the political situation that is going on» the country, as well as before the «violations of civil and political rights enshrined in the Constitution» Venezuelan.

The statement came after Paraguay, which reestablished diplomatic relations with Caracas in November 2023, joined a statement in which the governments of Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru and Uruguay expressed their “grave concern” over the “persistent impediments” to the registration of presidential candidates in Venezuela.