White House Retracted Biden’s Comments on New Election in Venezuela

By Staff, Agencies

The White House has retracted President Joe Biden's proposal for a new election in Venezuela, following criticism from President Nicolas Maduro.

Asked by reporters whether he backed new election in Venezuela, Biden said “I do”, as the US has backed the opposition that accused Maduro of rigging the election.

Biden criticized Maduro and his representatives for not disclosing information about the July 28 elections, as stated by a spokesperson for the White House's “National Security” Council.

The spokesperson claimed that Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes in the recent election.

Maduro criticized Biden's comments, stating that he rejected the idea that the US government becomes Venezuela's electoral authority or any other place in the world.

“They have a lot of problems,” he stated of the US, “let them be left with their problems because here in our homeland we Venezuelans are in charge.”

Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) announced that 61-year-old Maduro won 52% of votes on July 28, securing a third six-year term in office.

The opposition has claimed that its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia obtained 66% of the votes and is the winner.

Earlier this month, Maduro accused the US and right-wing American tech entrepreneur Elon Musk of attempting to engineer coups in his country.

Since November 2019, the US-led sanctions have pushed inflation in Venezuela to above 4,000 percent.