G7 backs Venezuelan opposition candidate, rouses anger in Caracas

 

The G7 group of industrialised nations provoked a furious response from Caracas Tuesday by coming out in support of the Venezuelan opposition's Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia's claim to victory in July elections.

The bloc comprising the United States, Canada, Italy, Germany, Britain, Japan and France, said in a statement the Venezuelan people had made a "clear choice" and voted for Gonzalez "by a significant majority according to publicly available electoral records."

After a two-day meeting in the Italian town of Fiuggi, the G7 expressed support for efforts towards a peaceful transition in Venezuela and voiced concern about "continued violations and abuses of human rights" in the South American country.

The statement prompted Caracas to announce it would "reconsider" its relations with G7 countries. Members Italy and the United States have already declared Gonzalez Urrutia to be Venezuela's "president-elect."

"Venezuela categorically rejects the absurd pronouncement on the electoral and political process in Venezuela," a foreign ministry statement said.

"They try, from the colonial and imperialist complex, to prepare the ground for ignoring the institutions and decisions of the Venezuelan people."

Incumbent President Nicolas Maduro insists he won the July 28 elections even though the opposition says it can provide proof he had decisively lost.

Venezuela's electoral commission has not released a detailed vote count despite domestic and international pressure, and only a handful of countries -- including Caracas ally Russia -- have accepted Maduro's victory claim.

About 2,400 people were arrested in post-election protests, of whom Venezuela's Foro Penal rights group says 131 have been released.

The opposition coalition's leader, Maria Corina Machado, has gone into hiding since the election while its presidential candidate Gonzalez Urrutia has fled to Spain.

The G7 expressed concern about "arbitrary detentions and severe restrictions on fundamental freedoms, targeting in particular political opponents, civil society, and independent media," in Venezuela.

And it called for "all unjustly detained political prisoners" to be released.