[News] US gov’t cites groups it funds to allege electoral ‘fraud’ in Venezuela

[Anti-Imperialist News]

geopoliticaleconomy.com
<https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/08/03/us-government-funds-electoral-fraud-venezuela/>
US gov’t cites groups it funds to allege electoral ‘fraud’ in Venezuela
Ben Norton
August 3, 2024
------------------------------

*(Aquí puede leer el artículo en español
<https://geopoliticaeconomica.com/2024/08/04/gobierno-eeuu-financia-fraude-electoral-venezuela/>.)*

The US State Department, which has sponsored
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/apr/21/usa.venezuela> several coup
attempts <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/apr/17/usa.venezuela> in
Venezuela, has claimed that the US-backed right-wing opposition candidate
won the country’s presidential election, supposedly defeating incumbent
President Nicolás Maduro.

As purported evidence, Washington only cited groups that are funded by the
US government.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has overseen US-backed coups against
democratically elected governments in Peru
<https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/01/19/peru-resources-mining-gas-investment/>
and Pakistan
<https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2022/12/30/pakistan-imran-khan-cia-coup-iran/>,
published a statement on August 1
<https://www.state.gov/assessing-the-results-of-venezuelas-presidential-election/>
claiming that “Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela’s
July 28 presidential election”.

Not a single one of the sources that Blinken cited to make this accusation
is independent; all are funded by his own government.

On August 2, Blinken held a phone call
<https://www.state.gov/secretary-blinkens-call-with-venezuelas-democratic-opposition/>
with both González and with the power behind his coup-mongering campaign:
María Corina Machado, a far-right Venezuelan opposition leader whose
political organizations have been funded by the US government, and who has
openly called for US military intervention
<https://misionverdad.com/venezuela/la-incesante-campana-de-maria-corina-machado-por-la-intervencion-militar>
in her country.

The Biden administration has essentially revived Donald Trump’s coup
attempt against Venezuela
<https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2022/07/12/trump-john-bolton-coups-venezuela/>.
In 2019, Trump recognized a little-known right-wing opposition politician, Juan
Guaidó
<https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/01/16/end-juan-guaido-venezuela-coup/>,
as supposed “interim president” of the country, despite the fact that he
had never participated in a presidential election.

Five years later, the Biden administration has launched its own coup
attempt in Venezuela, replacing Guaidó with González.

Venezuelan opposition publishes vote “tally sheets” with fabricated
signatures and names of dead people

In his statement claiming Edmundo González won the election, Blinken cited
alleged vote “tally sheets” that the Venezuelan opposition has published on
a website it created, hosted on a US-based server.

There is no way to independently verify the validity of these alleged
“tally sheets” (*actas*, in Spanish) that have been released by the
opposition; belief in their authenticity is entirely based on faith.

In fact, some of the alleged “tallies” released by the opposition lack the
obligatory name of a witness, which is needed to prove they are legitimate.
Furthermore, many of the “signatures” on these “tallies” consist of illegible
scribbles or mere initials
<https://x.com/EurekaNews10/status/1819639926004019286> of unknown people.

Some of the alleged “members” of the electoral table listed on the tally
sheets don’t have their full name. Others don’t have their full ID
<https://x.com/RoiLopezRivas/status/1819805006263935200> (*cédula*, in
Spanish), rather just a few numbers, making it impossible to confirm if
they even exist at all.

The following screenshots of fabricated “signatures” of “witnesses” come
directly from the Venezuelan opposition-controlled website. (Links here
<https://resultadosconvzla.com/documento/V16971992>, here
<https://resultadosconvzla.com/documento/V13717186>, and here
<https://resultadosconvzla.com/documento/V30753361>.)

[image: Venezuela opposition actas vote tally sheet fabricated signatures]

The Venezuelan government held a press conference in which it showed
many irregularities
and fabrications <https://x.com/indhriana/status/1819506462630334734> in
this supposed “vote tally” released by the opposition.

A Venezuelan lawyer revealed that opposition groups had fabricated
signatures <https://x.com/indhriana/status/1819506462630334734>, including
those of her own family members who died years ago.

The US government has not acknowledged any of these irregularities in the
supposed “tally sheets”. It is simply regurgitating the uncorroborated
claims of opposition groups that it funds and supports.

Edmundo González la estafa electoral más grande de la historia de Venezuela.

Vean estos detalles en las actas publicadas en su página web.
pic.twitter.com/Ed3owVnYGM <https://t.co/Ed3owVnYGM>

— Roi Lopez Rivas (@RoiLopezRivas) August 3, 2024
<https://twitter.com/RoiLopezRivas/status/1819805006263935200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Venezuela’s supreme court, the Supreme Justice Tribunal (TSJ), has tried to
verify the results of the election, but González has refused to cooperate
<https://www.semana.com/mundo/articulo/edmundo-gonzalez-explico-por-que-no-acudio-al-tsj-y-reitero-que-se-mantendra-firme-en-defensa-de-la-voluntad-popular/202420/>.
He boycotted a mandatory meeting with the TSJ, which was attended by Maduro
and the other eight opposition candidates who ran in the July 28 election.

This obstructionist tactic follows the extremist Venezuelan opposition’s
longtime strategy of rejecting all government institutions, and even trying
to create new parallel ones. (Right-wing political groups in Venezuela at
one point had two separate opposition-controlled “national assemblies” that
competed with the official one.)

With US backing, the Venezuelan opposition is creating a political
stalemate, one in which it is impossible to verify any of its accusations
and alleged “evidence”.

Machado has a long history of crying “fraud” after opposition losses. She
previously ran an opposition group called Súmate that was funded by the US
government
<https://www.ned.org/international-coalition-expresses-concern-for-democracy-in-venezuela-havel-albright-mc/>
through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a notorious CIA cutout
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1991/09/22/innocence-abroad-the-new-world-of-spyless-coups/92bb989a-de6e-4bb8-99b9-462c76b59a16/>
that has interfered in the internal political affairs of countries around
the world.

Súmate was dedicated to trying to discredit previous votes in Venezuela.
When the opposition was defeated in a 2004 referendum that unsuccessfully
sought to impeach President Hugo Chávez, Machado’s US-funded organization
made unsubstantiated allegations of “fraud” that were later shown to be
false <https://www.cartercenter.org/news/documents/doc2023.html>.
US ignores exit polls that predicted Maduro’s victory

In the State Department statement, Blinken cited unnamed “independent
observers” and “election day exit polls” that allegedly showed González
getting more votes than Maduro.

The US secretary of state did not identify any examples of these supposed
sources.

One of Venezuela’s leading independent polling firms, Hinterlaces, in fact
found the opposite to be true. It published an exit poll on the day of the
vote that predicted that Maduro would win with 54.57%, compared to 42.82%
for González.

This was quite similar to the final results of 51.95% for Maduro and 43.18%
for González. (The remaining votes were split among the eight other
opposition candidates.)

 Elecciones Presidenciales 28 de Julio

HINTERLACES
EXIT POLL / 12:00 mediodía

 Participación proyectada: 61,5%

Nicolás Maduro: 54,57%
Edmundo González: 42,82%
Otros: 2,61% pic.twitter.com/PEtFijomsD <https://t.co/PEtFijomsD>

— Hinterlaces (@Hinterlaces) July 28, 2024
<https://twitter.com/Hinterlaces/status/1817599369471799639?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Blinken did not acknowledge the existence of exit polls that accurately
predicted Maduro’s victory.

Instead, the secretary of state was apparently referencing an exit poll
that had been done by a suspicious New Jersey-based firm called Edison
Research.

Geopolitical Economy Report showed how Edison works closely with CIA-linked
US state propaganda outlets
<https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/07/29/us-government-edison-poll-venezuela-election/>
and previously did dubious polling in Ukraine, Georgia, and Iraq – areas
that, like Venezuela, have been targeted in Washington’s meddling campaigns.
US, UK, EU, Gulf monarchies fund Carter Center

The only other source that Blinken cited in his statement on Venezuela was
the Carter Center.

The Carter Center said on July 30 that it “cannot verify or corroborate the
results of the election declared by the National Electoral Council (CNE)”.

But what the State Department did not disclose was a clear conflict of
interest: It bankrolls the Carter Center.

The Carter Center was founded and is named after former US President Jimmy
Carter. It is funded directly by the US State Department
<https://www.cartercenter.org/donate/corporate-government-foundation-partners/index.html>
and US Agency for International Development (USAID), a notorious CIA cutout
that used so-called “humanitarian flights” to send weapons
<https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-05-19-mn-1157-story.html> to
the far-right Contra death squads in Nicaragua in the 1980s
<https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/06/28/us-owes-nicaragua-reparations-1986-icj/>
.

Other funders of the Carter Center include the European Union, the UK’s
Foreign Office, the government of Canada, and the US-dominated World Bank.

Most ironic of all is that the Carter Center is financed by numerous brutal
Persian Gulf monarchies, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates,
and Qatar.

Why would hereditary dictatorships fund a group ostensibly dedicated to
election monitoring? What is clear is that, if perhaps the Carter Center
had in the past been dedicated to genuine election monitoring, over time it
has become a tool of political influence that serves the interests of the
governments and corporations that invest in it.

On the other hand, independent observers from the US National Lawyers Guild
<https://nlginternational.org/2024/07/press-release-national-lawyers-guild-electoral-observers-praise-fairness-transparency-of-venezuelan-election-process-condemn-the-u-s-backed-oppositions-refusal-to-accept-the-outcome-of-de/>,
who were on the ground on election day in Venezuela, reported that they had
“observed a transparent, fair voting process with scrupulous attention to
legitimacy, access to the polls, and pluralism”.

The National Lawyers Guild denounced the Venezuelan opposition’s “attacks
on the electoral system as well as the role of the US in undermining the
democratic process”.
US backs dictatorship in Pakistan and Peru

It is deeply ironic that the Biden administration is echoing
unsubstantiated accusations of “electoral fraud” in Venezuela, because it
has sponsored numerous coups against democratically elected governments,
including documented electoral fraud in Pakistan.

In 2022, Pakistan’s democratically elected Prime Minister Imran Khan was
overthrown in a political coup d’etat
<https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2022/04/04/pakistan-imran-khan-us-diplomat-conspiracy/>,
which behind the scenes was supported by the country’s powerful military.

A classified Pakistani government document proves that the US State
Department had threatened Khan
<https://theintercept.com/2023/08/09/imran-khan-pakistan-cypher-ukraine-russia/>
over his improved relations with Russia and his neutrality in the war in
Ukraine. Washington conspired with Pakistani officials to remove the
elected leader from power.

Pakistan’s authoritarian coup regime subsequently barred Khan from running
in the 2024 election, and imprisoned him on fabricated charges.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of relations between the U.S. and
Pakistan. It was my pleasure to host Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff,
General Qamar Javed Bajwa, to the Pentagon where we discussed our
long-standing defense partnership and areas of mutual interest.
pic.twitter.com/ptiZDiqc8I <https://t.co/ptiZDiqc8I>

— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) October 5, 2022
<https://twitter.com/SecDef/status/1577646810553892864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

In a brutal military-backed campaign, the Pakistani coup regime cracked
down hard on Khan’s supporters, killing and imprisoning many, while seeking
to criminalize and destroy his political party, the Pakistan Movement for
Justice (PTI).

A top Pakistani official even publicly admitted that they had rigged the
election
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/17/senior-pakistan-official-admits-election-rigging-as-protests-grip-country>
in order to keep notoriously corrupt US-backed leader Shehbaz Sharif in
power.

Throughout this process, the Pakistani coup regime and its de facto
military leaders enjoyed the full support of the US government.

Senior Pakistan official admits election rigging as protests grip country
https://t.co/gRS2U9mKuK

— The Guardian (@guardian) February 17, 2024
<https://twitter.com/guardian/status/1758867043078512725?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

The Biden administration sponsored a similar coup in Peru, also in 2022.

Right-wing forces overthrew Peru’s democratically elected left-wing
President Pedro Castillo
<https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/02/17/peru-protests-unelected-coup/>
and imprisoned him without trial. The coup regime then proceeded to
massacre dozens of peaceful pro-democracy protesters, during months of
demonstrations.

Today, Peru is run by a right-wing coup regime that is notorious for its
blatant corruption – and is rejected by more than 90% of the population
<https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/04/16/peru-coup-congress-approval-us/>
.

Peru’s unelected leader Dina Boluarte formed a de facto political alliance
with the far-right Fujimoristas
<https://x.com/WaykaPeru/status/1755982485182128315>, who had lost the
election to Castillo. She even released
<https://x.com/KeikoFujimori/status/1732584625552171332> former fascist
dictator Alberto Fujimori
<https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/01/24/bush-dictator-fujimori-peru/>
from prison, after he had been sentenced for crimes against humanity.
Fujimori  committed genocide against Peru’s indigenous communities, with
USAID backing <https://x.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1551285847596605440>.

While hypocritically expressing concern over “democracy” in Venezuela, the
Biden administration has supported the brutal Peruvian dictatorship of
Boluarte and her military backers.

In fact, the biggest irony of all is that Peru’s unelected coup regime was
the first country to officially recognize
<https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/c6p24vjwj3vo> Venezuela’s opposition
leader Edmundo González as supposed “president-elect” of the country.

It is deeply symbolic that a blood-soaked right-wing Latin American
dictatorship was the first regime to try to legitimize the Venezuelan
opposition’s “fraud” allegations.

La jefa de Estado, Dina Boluarte, se reunió con el presidente de los
Estados Unidos, @JoeBiden <https://twitter.com/JoeBiden?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>,
con quien trató temas relacionados a la cooperación entre ambos países y el
apoyo que Perú recibe de su nación. La mandataria invitó a su homólogo a
visitar Perú próximamente.  pic.twitter.com/Kx72jFw06D
<https://t.co/Kx72jFw06D>

— Presidencia del Perú  (@presidenciaperu) September 20, 2023
<https://twitter.com/presidenciaperu/status/1704561782918951102?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Furthermore, as it cynically appeals to “democracy” and “human rights”, the
Biden administration has also unflinchingly supported Israel as it has
carried out crimes against humanity in Gaza.

The top UN expert on the rights of Palestinians has clearly and repeated
said that Israel is committing genocide
<https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1147976>. Yet Washington has
continued backing Israel, without hesitation.

In fact, when the International Criminal Court accused Israel’s Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
<https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/05/27/us-congress-icc-israel-america/>
and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of war crimes and crimes against humanity
in Gaza, the US government responded by threatening to impose sanctions on
the Hague
<https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/05/24/us-threat-icc-prosecute-israel-were-next/>
.

Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, on the other hand, wholeheartedly
supports Palestinian human rights. He has urged the International Court of
Justice to act to stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza
<https://www.swissinfo.ch/spa/nicol%C3%A1s-maduro-urge-a-la-cij-a-detener-%22el-genocidio%22-de-israel-contra-el-pueblo-palestino/75002186>
.

I met with @IsraeliPM <https://twitter.com/IsraeliPM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
Netanyahu in Israel today to reiterate ironclad U.S. support for Israel’s
right to defend itself from Hamas’ terrorist attacks.
pic.twitter.com/hhuqRS3UrA <https://t.co/hhuqRS3UrA>

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) October 12, 2023
<https://twitter.com/SecBlinken/status/1712435443659108500?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
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