Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro needs to release voter data from July’s disputed election to address global concerns about its validity, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Monday (9).
Opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez has gone to Spain to seek asylum after the election, Venezuelan and Spanish officials said over the weekend, following heightened diplomatic tensions.
“I’m not going to make assumptions one way or the other about Mr. Gonzalez or what his future may hold. He would not have had to seek political asylum if he had not been accused of trumped-up and ridiculous charges and thus forced to flee his own country,” Kirby said.
“What needs to happen is that Maduro needs to heed the call of the international community and, frankly, the Venezuelan people, and release the data so that the entire world can see what the Venezuelan people, who they voted for, and that their democratic aspirations are met.”
The spokesman also spoke about the possibility of imposing new sanctions on the regime: “In the past, we have imposed sanctions against Mr. Maduro and his regime. I do not have any announcements today, but I can say that we are constantly analyzing what our options would be in the future, depending on the decisions that Maduro makes.”
Election in Venezuela had electronic ballot box and printed vote; understand
This content was originally published in Maduro needs to release electoral data, says White House on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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