Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia , currently living in exile, reiterated the need to respect the popular will in his country, stressing that any transition of power must begin with the explicit recognition of his victory in the 2024 presidential elections. These statements come at a time when Venezuela is facing increasing international pressure, coinciding with the United States' announcement of new punitive measures targeting the oil sector.
Diplomacy from Exile: A Letter to Madrid
In a related development, Venezuelan opposition leader Nicolás Maduro, currently residing in Spain, held a telephone conversation with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez . During the call, Maduro stated that "the rebuilding of democracy in Venezuela depends entirely on the explicit and direct recognition of the results of the July 28, 2024 elections," according to an official statement released by his media team. While in Europe, Maduro is attempting to garner broader international support to pressure the regime of President Nicolás Maduro, who faces widespread accusations of rigging the elections in his favor.
Background to the crisis: a dispute over electoral legitimacy
The roots of this escalation lie in the controversial presidential elections held in Venezuela in July 2014. While the pro-government National Electoral Council declared Nicolás Maduro the winner of a third term, the opposition rejected these results, asserting that it possessed evidence and copies of the vote tallies proving González's victory by a significant margin. This discrepancy sparked widespread protests, which were met with security crackdowns, forcing González and several other opposition leaders to flee the country for their safety and conduct their political campaign from abroad.
Washington seizes the "ghost fleet"
On the economic and security front, and coinciding with the political developments, the United States announced a new blow to Caracas' attempts to circumvent sanctions. The US Department of Homeland Security revealed the seizure of an oil tanker named "Olena," the fifth of its kind to be detained recently.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on the X platform that the seized tanker is part of what is known as the "ghost fleet," ships that disable their tracking devices to secretly transport prohibited oil. Noem confirmed that the vessel was seized "after sailing from Venezuela attempting to evade U.S. forces," a clear indication of Washington's determination to tighten the economic blockade on the Maduro regime to prevent it from using oil revenues to finance its hold on power.
The repercussions of the Venezuelan situation
This convergence of the opposition's political demands and the US military and economic actions reflects the "maximum pressure" strategy being pursued against Caracas. Observers believe that the continued seizure of oil tankers will exacerbate Venezuela's crippling economic crisis, potentially fueling further internal unrest, while the political impasse remains unresolved, awaiting more effective international action to settle the question of presidential legitimacy.
