St Vincent Prime Minister Commends Venezuela's President Maduro on Election Win Amid Controversy

St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves on Monday congratulated his strong ally, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, for winning Sunday’s elections that was being questioned by the United States (US) and several Latin American countries.

“Congratulations to president Nicolás Maduro on his re-election to the presidency of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The Venezuelan people have spoken in a free, fair and democratic process,” said Dr Gonsalves.

The Vincentian leader was among several Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders that had flown to Guyana in 2020 to address concerns about efforts to rig the general elections. He had also urged then Guyana President, David Granger to “tek yuh licks like a man.”

Dr Gonsalves was quoted by the Caribbean News Agency (CANA) as saying that he was hoping that Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders, who are holding their 47th summit in Grenada, would issue a statement on Venezuela’s election.

The other known Maduro allies- the Prime Ministers of Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, and to a lesser extent St Lucia did not say anything about Venezuela’s elections on their Social Media pages, but the Vincentian Prime Minister said he approved a statement from the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) which includes those countries. “After the 51.20% of the votes, the victory of the Bolivarian Revolution is a demonstration of the strength of the Venezuelan participatory and active democracy, whose people, besieged by imperialist powers, have expressed their will in a civic and deeply patriotic manner in a historic election for the peace and stability of the region and the entire world,” ALBA-TCP said.

In his Social Media post, Dr Gonsalves said he had already contacted someone close to Mr Maduro to convey his congratulations. Referring vaguely to views by other countries as “folly”, he said “the reality on the ground is that Nicolas Maduro and the Bolivarian revolution havethe support of the people of Venezuela and that expressed again in this electoral victory.”

The BBC reported that in a statement from Itamaraty, the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said that it “welcomes the peaceful nature of yesterday’s election day in Venezuela and is closely following the counting process.” “[The Brazilian government] also reaffirms the fundamental principle of popular sovereignty, to be observed through the impartial verification of results,” says the Itamaraty note.

The note also says that the Brazilian government “awaits, in this context, the publication by the National Electoral Council of data disaggregated by polling station, an essential step for the transparency, credibility and legitimacy of the election result.”

The Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, along with the President of Brazil, had been instrumental in brokering a meeting between President Irfaan Ali and President Maduro that led to the Argyle Declaration that was aimed at easing tensions between the two neighbouring South American countries.

Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton had criticised Dr Gonsalves for appearing in a picture with a Venezuelan map that includes the county of Essequibo.