Panama Keeps the Records of the Venezuelan Elections that Gave Victory to Edmundo González

Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia (2nd R) holds electoral records with his wife Mercedes López (R), former Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla (L) and Panamanian Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha on Wednesday.  Panama is keeping the records of the elections of July 28 in Venezuela, which gave the victory to the opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, as president of that nation.  The news was announced on Wednesday, January 8, at an event organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to support democracy and freedom in Venezuela at the Atlapa Convention Center.  González Urrutia is visiting Panama as part of his tour of several countries on the continent, prior to January 10, the date that marks the beginning of a new period of government in Venezuela.

That day, Nicolás Maduro intends to assume a new mandate despite the multiple claims of fraud.  The records will be kept in a vault at the National Bank of Panama until they can return to Venezuela “very soon,” according to María Corina Machado (pictured above), leader of the Venezuelan opposition.  After the July 28 elections, the political coalition that supported González Urrutia’s candidacy published on its website 85% of the voting records showing that the opposition candidate won the electoral tournament with 65% of the votes while Nicolás Maduro, according to these records, obtained 30%.  However, the National Electoral Council of Venezuela, an organization controlled by the Maduro regime, claimed that Maduro won 51% of the votes, compared to González Urrutia’s 43%.

However, they have not yet published the documents that support these numbers, which is why both Venezuelans and governments of various countries are calling these results “fraud.”  At the event organized by the Panamanian Foreign Ministry called Act of Vindication of Democracy in Venezuela and America, members of President Mulino’s cabinet, representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Panama, deputies of the National Assembly, president of political parties, members of the Venezuelan community in Panama, among others, participated. It was a moment full of solemnity and emotion. First to speak was Foreign Minister Javier Martínez Acha (pictured below), who sent a “loud and clear message to the dictator” of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro. “You are not going to take away our right to freedom and democracy.” Applause was heard in the hall.  “Free Venezuela,” someone from the audience shouted. 

“When a ‘people’ decides to be free, no tyrant can stop it,” said the foreign minister after recalling the day of the elections on July 28. “The result is known by men and women of good faith, the victory of the candidacy that you headed was incontestable, to the point that you presented the minutes and the dictatorial regime did not even bother to do so. By that time there was no longer any shame in them. They had committed a huge fraud and they did not bother to cover it up. With that dictator, only more oppression is expected.” he said. Nearly six months after the Venezuelan elections, Martínez Acha recalled, behind those who “usurp power in Caracas” there is only “barbarism, theft, plundering and corruption, persecution of dissidents, and lack of reason.” Martínez Acha called María Corina Machado (pictured below) “the saint” of Venezuela.

“Carlos Andrés Pérez supported the Panamanian sovereignty cause that ended up triumphing and culminated in the Torrijos Carter treaties of 1977 and the effective handover of the interoceanic route and the occupied territories, whose 25th anniversary we just celebrated a few days ago. The darkness of the authoritarianism of the Venezuelan regime will not be able to extinguish the torch of democracy that you and Maria Corina Machado hold high,” he added.  The Panamanian foreign minister announced that Panama will not limit itself to raising its voice at events such as the one held on Wednesday. He said that the country’s designation as a member of the United Nations Security Council for the period 2025-2026 places the State in a “privileged” position when it comes to helping Venezuela remain very important on the United Nations agenda.

When it was González Urrutia’s turn to address the audience, he began his speech by reminding the audience that democracy “is never achieved forever. We can never take it for granted.”  “For too many years we have been oppressed by an unconventional dictatorship. It is a predatory system that has not prevented those who control the State from unrestrainedly plundering Venezuelans,” he said.  Listening to him in the front row were former presidents of several countries who support his cause: Andrés Pastrana (Colombia), Felipe Calderón (Mexico), Vicente Fox (Mexico), Mario Abdo Benítez (Paraguay), Laura Chinchilla (Costa Rica), Jorge Quiroga (Bolvia), Jorge Jamil Mahuad (Ecuador), Guillermo Lasso (Ecuador), Rafael Hipólito Mejía (Dominican Republic), Mireya Moscoso (Panama) and Ernesto Pérez Balladares (Panama). 

“Just as they have destroyed the republic, they have pulverized the nation,” he said.  “It is such a destructive kleptocracy that it no longer has any political project other than its indefinite permanence in power. In the hands of such a regime, the destruction of our productive apparatus has become a habit and its consequences are that we are suffering one of the worst hyperinflationary cycles in history. These are the causes of the gigantic exodus that our country has been experiencing for years with more than 8 million migrants and refugees and with the vast majority mobilized to other countries in America.” he added.  “We Venezuelans were born to be free. Democracy is a feeling that we carry in our blood,” he added.  He recalled that with a nearly 40% advantage and the ability to collect and publish 85% of the votes, “no one in the world can doubt today what the popular and sovereign will is.” 

These records, he said, are the source of his “legitimacy” as the new ruler of Venezuela.  “These minutes are my real presidential sash,” he said. A constant chorus of “freedom, freedom, freedom” could be heard in the auditorium.  “Popular sovereignty is non-negotiable,” he said.  González Urrutia also met with President José Raúl Mulino at the Palacio de las Garzas on Wednesday.  “You can count on our political and moral support. I hope that this trip will be a wake-up call for the democratic world, that it will be a wake-up call for the freedom of Venezuela,” said the Panamanian president.  At the event, González Urrutia gave Mulino a copy of the minutes that prove his victory in the presidential elections of July 28. 

González Urrutia was also decorated by the mayor of the district of Panama, Mayer Mizrachi (pictured above).  “Today, Panama City presents this award to you and to the Venezuelan people, who have earned a place in Panama City and in our hearts,” said the mayor. “For my part, I would hate for Venezuelans to leave Panama. They are our brothers. They are our partners. They are our children too.  But I would hate even more if they stayed for the wrong reasons. They cannot return because of the situation they are living through, including decades of struggle for justice, freedom and democracy.  Don Edmundo, we acknowledge you, and all Venezuelans, that Panama will always be a home for those who fight for their home.” he said.