New York, August 2 (RHC)-- The U.S. State Department released a statement Thursday evening, announcing -- in contradiction to the official Venezuelan election results -- the far-right opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, as the winner of the Presidential elections on Sunday, July 28th.

In New York City, The People's Forum released a statement condemning the selection of one country's president by another country, which is not only contradictory to common sense, but a complete violation of international law.

Here is The People's Forum statement: 

This inappropriate and blatant meddling in the democratic electoral process of Venezuela is part of the U.S. government’s playbook for destabilizing and intervening in other countries for their own interests. 

​​We saw a similar plot unfold in 2019 when the U.S. recognized “self-declared” Juan Guaidó as President of Venezuela.  The U.S. has no place to determine or “verify” the election results of another country’s sovereign democratic elections. 

Especially during the Trump presidency, the U.S. imposed hundreds of economic sanctions and coercive measures on Venezuela that were deliberately designed to create economic suffering, hunger, social instability and emigration.  As the economic noose was tightened, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans fled the country in an effort to find relief from this economic reality. Economic sanctions are a diabolical warfare that impose suffering and death on the population as a form of collective punishment by the United States and its principle allies in NATO.  This policy has been imposed on Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, and other countries in the global south that have tried to chart an independent path.

The people of the world won’t stand for U.S. imperialism’s attempts to defy the democratic mandate of the Venezuelan people. 

Hands Off Venezuela!