Daily Briefing: January 06, 2020
The European Union didn't recognize Maduro’s Parliament and claimed it will maintain its commitment to help return democracy to Venezuela. Roland Carreño's legal team denounced that he was transferred to an unknown location. Juan Guaidó denied the accusations about alleged corruption.
- On behalf of the European Union, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, said on Wednesday: “The European Union will maintain its commitment to all political and civil actors that are fighting to help return democracy to Venezuela, including Juan Guaidó and other representatives of the outgoing National Assembly elected in 2015, which was the last free expression of Venezuelans in an electoral process,” read his official statement.
- Borell also said they won’t recognize the results of the parliamentary elections on December 6th for not being a “credible, inclusive or transparent” electoral process, in addition to deeply regretting that chavismo assumed their mandate on January 5th based on these anti-democratic elections. From the statement of the European Union, some media forced headlines such as “the EU stops recognizing Guaidó as caretaker president,” but the EU had never recognized him as such, unlike the European Parliament and each individual country. At the time, Guaidó was recognized as the caretaker president by 26 of the 28 member states, before Brexit.
- The EU emphasized that as it’s willing to support the process of seeking a political solution to the crisis, “it’s also willing to take additional specific measures.”
- On Wednesday, Norway asked Venezuelan political leaders to put the interests of the people first and find a peaceful solution to the crisis, to safeguard fundamental human rights, democratic participation, and the rule of law. Dita Charanzová, vice president of the European Parliament, reiterated her recognition of Juan Guaidó as the caretaker president and of the National Assembly elected in 2015: “Until democratic elections are held.” The government of Germany also said that it considers the chavista parliament illegitimate.
- The board of authorities of Nicolás’s National Assembly, led by Jorge Rodríguez and a commission of his deputies, gave Nicolás the official communication of the installation of the Legislative Branch.
- The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, headed by Michelle Bachelet, expressed concern about the death of Pemon Salvador Franco, who was in the custody of the State and asked the authorities of Nicolás’s regime to carry out an investigation. It also demanded that necessary measures be taken to protect the rights of all detainees, including access to medical care.
- The legal team of the journalist and political prisoner, Roland Carreño, denounced that he was transferred from the PNB headquarters in La Yaguara, Caracas, where he was detained, to an unknown location. Lawyer Joel García said judge Mascimino Márquez would be responsible for Carreño’s integrity and what may happen to him during his disappearance.
- Juan Guaidó denied on Wednesday the accusations published by The Washington Post newspaper about alleged corruption with Venezuelan funds and assets for 40,000 million dollars blocked abroad. Guaidó said that the cases reported by the newspaper were detected by his own team’s control mechanisms. His collaborators rejected the irregular negotiations and are under investigation in both the United States and Venezuela.
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