U.S., Western nations take measured stance on Venezuela’s disputed vote

More than two weeks after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro claimed reelection victory, the U.S. and other Western countries are showing little sign that they plan to quickly impose tough measures for what many of them have condemned as voting fraud.

More than two weeks after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro claimed reelection victory, the U.S. and other Western countries are showing little sign that they plan to quickly impose tough measures for what many of them have condemned as voting fraud.

Most governments have demanded that Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) release a full set of voting tally sheets after both Maduro and opposition candidate Edmundo González declared they won. Brazil and others have been trying to secure talks between the two sides, political rivals that have not conciliated in decades.

Protests against Maduro in the days following the vote were met with a crackdown, with authorities denouncing the demonstrations as an attempted “coup.” The confrontation left 23 dead and more than 2,000 people arrested, according to data from the United Nations on Monday.

Western governments are trying to take it “slowly” in their reactions, said one embassy official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. No government wanted to be first on anything, he added.

“This isn’t a race to see who can verbally go the furthest in their demands with zero effectiveness, but to be effective in our support for democracy in Venezuela,” Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told a Senate hearing on Tuesday.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/us-western-nations-measured-stance-venezuela-election-rcna166372

---