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DR removes staff from embassy and consulate in Venezuela

Staff of the Dominican embassy and consulate in Venezuela returned on a Sky High flight direct from Venezuela on Tuesday, 30 July 2024.

The Maduro administration had ordered the Dominican mission to leave immediately, after the Dominican Republic called for transparency actions following the Sunday, 28 July 2024 election in Venezuela.

Incumbent Foreign Minister Yvan Gil ordered all diplomatic staff from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, the Dominican Republican, and Uruguay to leave Venezuela with immediate effect; the expulsion is in response to these governments’ refusal to accept the results of the election without a detailed accounting.

The Americas is divided regarding the Nicolas Maduro government. In the Caribbean, the president of the Caribbean Common Market (Caricom), St. Vincent’s head of government Ralph Gonsalves has congratulated Maduro. Gonsalves for years has been a strong detractor of Dominican governments. Likewise, the long-standing head of state of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit has backed Maduro.

The Permanent Council of the OAS was not able to get support for a resolution that demanded that Venezuela public the actual voting tallies. Only 17 of 33 countries voted in favor after abstentions from Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia and Caribbean countries.

In a session at the OAS, Dominican Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez maintained the Dominican position calling for transparency in the handling of the outcome of the election in Venezuela. “Words are powerful symbols that convey ideas and emotions that either bring us closer together or drive us apart. They create moods that can either encourage dialogue or hinder it. It is now crucial to urge all parties toward reason and sanity, aiming for a genuinely Venezuelan, peaceful solution,” he stated. He reiterated the Dominican Republic’s call for the release of the official records from Venezuela’s Sunday elections, asserting that this step is “essential for ensuring transparency in Venezuela’s electoral results.”

The OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro issued a statement criticizing the Venezuelan government’s handling of the election process, accusing it of repression and distorting the electoral results. The statement called for the Venezuelan government to accept the opposition’s claim to have won the election and open the way for a return to democracy.

In Venezuela, that country’s National Electoral Council (Consejo Nacional Electoral, CNE) declared incumbent President Nicolas Maduro as the 28 July 2024 presidential election winner with 51% of the vote. However, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado claimed that opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez received 70% of the vote; independent pollsters have claimed official results are incongruent with exit polling.

The government of Venezuela also suspended offering services to Venezuelans from the embassy located in Santo Domingo. The Venezuelan embassy for months has been under a charge d’affaires.

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1 August 2024