How Have International Leaders Responded to Venezuela's 2024 Election?

Four Latin American countries congratulated Maduro: Bolivia, Cuba, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Cuba was the first country to do so, with its leader Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez calling it a “historic victory.” 

China, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Russia, Serbia, and Syria also backed the CNE results and congratulated the incumbent leader.  

Among the 14-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) bloc, Prime Ministers Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Roosevelt Skerrit of Dominica endorsed the official result and extended congratulations to Maduro, with Gonsalves urging the group to follow suit. Both countries are also members of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP)—a group of left-wing Latin American countries that includes Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela as well as six CARICOM nations. ALBA-TCP issued a congratulatory statement to Maduro the morning after the election. 

However, the prime ministers of Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago both cautiously acknowledged the CNE result. President Irfaan Ali of Guyana, whose country is in the middle of a territorial dispute with Venezuela, stated that his government would await the verification of the election.

While the world waited for results, nine Latin American countries released a joint statement urging transparency and recognition of voters’ will. The nine countries are: Argentina, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. On the morning after the election, the same group released a second statement, demanding a complete review of the results in the presence of independent electoral observers. 

In addition to Panama joining this group, on Monday morning President Jose Raúl Mulino announced the suspension of diplomatic relations with Venezuela, saying he was withdrawing diplomatic personnel until a full review of the election results is conducted. The decision was an important regional announcement, given that scores of Venezuelan refugees have fled through the Darien Gap and across the country on their paths toward the United States.

Although Chile did not join the statement, prior to the announcement of results on Sunday night, President Gabriel Boric made a call for transparency. After the CNE announced results, he described them as “hard to believe.” Via X, he went on to say, “The international community and, above all the Venezuelan people—including the millions of Venezuelans in exile—demand transparency.” He added that Chile would not recognize any results that were not verifiable.

Another country that did not join with the larger group but rejected results was El Salvador. President Nayib Bukele called the election a “fraud” in which the “official result has no relation to reality.” He said his country, which broke off diplomatic relations with Venezuela in 2019, will not reestablish official ties until Venezuelans can participate in “real elections.” 

On July 29, Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Yván Gil announced a decision to break off diplomatic relations with seven Latin American countries. Six out of the seven—Argentina, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay—had signed the joint statements. The seventh is Chile. In the statement, Venezuela said it would withdraw diplomatic personnel from the seven countries and demanded the withdrawal of their diplomatic personnel from its territory. Peru called Venezuela’s decision “grave and arbitrary” while Uruguay called it “unjustified and disproportionate.” Both countries called for their diplomatic personnel to abandon Venezuela. Chile’s Boric described the move as intolerant. 

On the evening of July 29, Venezuela’s Ministry of Transportation also announced a temporary suspension of commercial flights to and from Panama and the Dominican Republic, starting on July 31.  

On July 30, Argentina’s Foreign Affairs Ministry accused Maduro of cutting power to its embassy in Caracas and warned the government of Venezuela “against any deliberate action that endangers the safety of Argentine diplomatic personnel and Venezuelan citizens under protection.” The Argentine embassy has sheltered six political refugees from Venezuela’s opposition since March. 

Prior to the release of results, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said: "The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected."  U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was in Japan, spoke after Maduro declared victory and called for the full results of the election to be released, saying he has serious concerns about irregularities. Former President Donald Trump has yet to release a statement, though several prominent Republican lawmakers, such as Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar proclaimed Maduro’s defeat. Some legislators have called on President Joe Biden to restore sanctions on the Maduro regime.

On July 30, the White House released a statement from National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson that again urged for the release of complete results, in addition to stating that “there are clear signs that the election results announced by [the CNE] do not reflect the will of the Venezuelan people as it was expressed at the ballot box on July 28.”

Latin America’s two largest countries, Brazil and Mexico, have neither recognized Maduro’s victory nor clearly stated the elections were fraudulent. However, both have called for a more complete reporting of the results. 

In the case of Brazil, advisor to the president and former Foreign Minister Celso Amorim was in Caracas to serve as an electoral observer. He called for the release of electoral results for each polling station, as well as “impartial” verification. This comes after Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva urged for a clean democratic process prior to the election and expressed concern about electoral violence. His political party, the Workers Party, voted on July 29 to recognize Maduro’s victory.  

On July 30, Lula spoke with Biden about, among other things, Venezuela and, per a White House statement, agreed on the need for the release of voting on the polling station level. On the same day, the Brazilian president made his first public comments about Venezuela since the election, saying: “It’s normal there is a fight,” adding that, “The people who don’t agree have the right to express themselves and show why they are not in agreement, just as the government has the right to show why it’s correct.”

On Monday, Mexico’s foreign secretariat called for a transparent review, including the electoral agency’s minutes and full reports, in order to realize the final results. However, in his July 29 morning press conference, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he would recognize the victor confirmed by the CNE. On July 30, President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, who takes office on October 1, said it is necessary to have a full count of the ballots to know the outcome. But she also rejected interventionism and said: "We need to recognize the self-determination of the Venezuelan people." 

Meanwhile, neighboring Colombia, home to millions of Venezuelan exiles, expressed support for the country’s sovereignty prior to the election. But, following results, Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo said “the international community and the Venezuelan people” are waiting for electoral guarantees that should involve transparency and the verification of vote counts. 

Bloomberg reported on July 29 that Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico are in the process of drafting a joint statement encouraging Maduro to release precinct-level data.

The United Kingdom and the European Union, along with several of its individual member states, have made calls for transparency and the publication of full election results. 

On Monday, UN Secretary General António Guterres urged for “moderation from political leaders and their supporters” in the interim. 

On July 30, the electoral monitoring wing of the Organization of American States (OAS), which did not have a mission present in Venezuela, released a statement rejecting the CNE’s declaration of Maduro’s win, saying the electoral agency had proven itself to be biased in his favor. In a press release, the organization declared that: “The worst, most vile form of repression is to prevent the people from reaching solutions through elections.” The permanent council of the 35-member hemispheric institution is scheduled to meet about Venezuela’s electoral process on July 31.  

A large number of international observers were prevented from participating in oversight on July 28. The following morning, the Carter Center, one of the few groups allowed to enter, asked for the CNE’s immediate publication of results by polling station. By the morning of July 30, the organization announced it had nixed the publication of a preliminary report set to be released that day and was withdrawing its personnel from Venezuela. 

Ex-Presidents Leonel Fernández of the Dominican Republic and Ernesto Samper of Colombia, who both served as electoral observers in Caracas, released a statement with a series of recommendations, including that the CNE release full results and calling for dialogue among political actors in Venezuela.