The Foreign Minister announced in Porto that Portugal and other countries will sign a declaration this Friday in the Dominican Republic calling once again for an end to repression and the release of those “arbitrarily detained” in Venezuela.
As part of the inauguration of the President of the Dominican Republic, “a declaration will be signed calling once again for an end to the repression of opposition demonstrations and rights, the release of those who have been arbitrarily detained, and, in addition, to find a solution, which is a negotiated solution,” said Paulo Rangel.
“The solution that may emerge must be a transitional solution. A solution through negotiations,” he stressed.
Venezuela, a country with a significant Portuguese and Portuguese-speaking community, held presidential elections on July 28, after which the National Electoral Council (CNE) attributed victory to Nicolás Maduro with just over 51% of the vote, while the opposition claims that his candidate, former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia, received almost 70% of the vote.
The Venezuelan opposition and several countries in the international community have condemned the election fraud and demanded that the voting records be made available for independent verification, which the CNE says is impossible due to the “cyber attack” that it was allegedly aimed at.
The election results were contested by demonstrations that were suppressed by security forces, with more than 2,220 people arrested, 25 killed and 192 injured, according to official figures.
“We always look at this with the direct support of the Portuguese community, which numbers more than half a million people, and therefore the Portuguese descendants are a cause for great attention and concern for us. We are in contact with all the representative structures of this community, through our consulates and our embassy in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, and at the same time we are moving towards developing a dialogue that can allow us to overcome this political impasse,” the minister emphasized, speaking to journalists after a visit to the Social Center and the parish of Nossa Senhora da Boavista in Porto.
He added: “This is what we do, always defending transparency, democracy and the political rights of the opposition.”
Rangel stressed that “Portugal acted decisively and decisively.”
“I think that’s all there is to it. I advise those who speak out on these issues to familiarize themselves with all the positions of the Foreign Ministry since the election day, July 29,” he added.
“We have made tireless efforts to monitor the situation, to guarantee the rights of the people detained and to respect the rights of the opposition in general. It is very important that there is, in fact, a dialogue between the forces on the ground and the current government in Venezuela to find a peaceful solution through negotiations,” he said.
Paulo Rangel also reported that regarding the situation in this Latin American country, Portugal is in “close, very close dialogue with Brazil, Colombia,” as well as with other countries, namely with European partners.
“I am thinking in particular of Spain, Italy and also High Representative Josep Borrell. So it was daily monitoring, often requiring a lot of diplomatic effort, but we are doing it intensively,” he said. he added.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has asked the Venezuelan state to take measures to guarantee the life and health of Portuguese-born political prisoner Williams Davila, renewing his status as “at risk”.
“The IACHR has reviewed the continuing risk situation identified in 2017. The information provided reflects the persistence of threats, surveillance, intimidation, harassment and attacks against Williams Davila in the context of the systematic targeting of the political opposition in the country,” the IACHR organization explained in a statement.
On August 9, the Portuguese government demanded from the Venezuelan authorities “the immediate and unconditional release of Williams Davila Barrios,” a Portuguese citizen.