Why the EU should not legitimize the elections in Venezuela

By Eli Lake

Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that Sunday’s municipal and provincial elections in Venezuela will mark a return to democracy for this impoverished South American country.

While some opposition politicians will participate, others have been arrested by the Nicolás Maduro regime. Most of the country’s powerful institutions, from courts to banks, are under the control of its loyalists. Furthermore, in recent years, the state has used food rations and other benefits to coerce the political loyalty of its citizens.

Under such conditions, one would think that the election observers would stand by. But the European Union plans to send them anyway. The decision was made by Josep Borrell, the high representative of the EU for foreign policy, despite warnings from his staff that an official delegation to observe the elections would give the regime Mature undeserved democratic legitimacy.

The plan concerns Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas in Washington. “There will probably be no blemish on whatever observers can see“, he told me. “But that has nothing to do with the reality of whether the elections are free or fair.”.

Observers of the EU not only will they serve to cover up the “choiceOf a despot. The decision to send them will help deepen the gap within Venezuela’s own opposition, which has been frustrated in the last two years with Juan Guaidó, the leader of the country’s National Assembly, recognized as the interim president of Venezuela. Venezuela for more than 50 countries around the world.

The presence of observers will give legitimacy to elements of the opposition that favor a more accommodative strategy with Maduro.

The decision has also created a gap within Europe, and between the EU and the United States. Almost a year after Joe Biden’s presidency, his predecessor’s policy of recognition of Guaidó by the United States remains in force. Recognition is also an official policy for America’s allies in Latin America and Europe. Sending election observers undermines that unity.

The policies of Borrell “have been uncoordinated with their own staff or with the United States or major European capitals“, said Elliott Abrams, who served as special representative of the former president Donald Trump for Venezuela. “They have done great harm to the opposition in Venezuela ”.

It is not the first time for Borrell. In 2020, Borrell supported the decision of the Venezuelan opposition politician Henrique Capriles to negotiate on his own with the regime of Mature. This was a surprise to the US government, Abrams told me. He later learned from interlocutors in the Netherlands, Germany and France that they too were unaware of Borrell’s decision to support the Capriles negotiations.

All of this presents a dilemma for Biden, whose administration negotiated the extradition from Spain of a key Maduro ally last month, and has largely upheld Trump’s tough policy toward Venezuela.

Own Biden it has attached great importance to opposition to authoritarianism and support for democracy in its foreign policy. Next month it will host a virtual summit of democratic world leaders where they will discuss the fight against dictatorships.

As minimum, Biden it should make sure that Guaidó is invited to that summit. It should also make it clear that whatever the outcome of Sunday’s elections in Venezuela, they are not to be considered free or fair.