Dina Boluarte, President of Peru, said on Friday that her country “will never be on the side of dictatorships that bring hunger and underdevelopment to their peoples.”
“We will notmake a segment of electoral fraud, we will not support a dictatorial government. We are a democratic country, which respects the rule of law, institutions and the Constitution,” he stressed during a solemn event.
Boluarte recalled that, in recent weeks, her country has demanded that the Venezuelan authorities present the results of the elections, which, according to the National Electoral Court (CNE), were won by Nicolás Maduro, while the opposition claims that the winner was the candidate Edmundo González Urrutia.
“He who owes nothing fears nothing, as soon as one counts ballot box by ballot box, vote by vote. If the opposition presented the minutes on the internet, giving victory to its candidate, it is up to the party in power to do the same and present its minutes, so that this situation is definitively resolved,” he said.
The Peruvian head of state said that the reshuffle she made this week in her cabinet of ministers, which included the reshuffle of the head of diplomacy, with the replacement of political scientist Javier González-Olaechea by diplomat Elmer Schialer, did not imply a change in her country’s foreign policy.
The President’s statements were made the day after the President of the Council of Ministers, Gustavo Adrianzén, stated that Peru did not recognize González Urrutia as President-elect of Venezuela, contrary to the statements of the then Peruvian Minister of Foreign Affairs on July 30, who stated that this was the Peruvian position.
“We do not have any solemn communication from the Peruvian State that recognizes González Urrutia as president-elect. We ask for a recount (…) because we also understand that it has to be within the scope of the electoral process that these (voting) records have to be reviewed,” Adrianzén said.
As for Peru’s position, the official said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued several official statements that “demand the delivery of the minutes” and that “it is essential that these results be reviewed.”
Schialer, the new holder of the portfolio, meanwhile assured that Peru “will continue to support the Venezuelan people in their struggle for democracy and freedom”.
“As far as Venezuela is concerned, I want to underline that there is no turning point. Peru will continue to maintain its firm and unalterable position of demanding respect for the will expressed by the Venezuelan people in the presidential elections of July 28,” he noted after Adrianzén’s statements.
Schialer also recalled that his country “resolutely rejected the arrest warrant issued against Edmundo González Urrutia” and said that “what is happening in Venezuela is of the greatest influence for Peru and the region, and also of the greatest concern.”
González Urrutia, leader of Venezuela’s largest opposition coalition, was recognized as the winner of the July 28 presidential election by the United States, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Panama and Costa Rica.