Venezuela suspended diplomatic ties with seven countries — including South American neighbors — over their calls for President Nicolas Maduro to step down in the wake of the country's contested election, which they say was fraudulent.
Further, Venezuela demanded that Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay "withdraw their representatives from Venezuelan territory."
"The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela expresses its firmest rejection of the interfering actions and statements of a group of right-wing governments, subordinate to Washington and openly committed to the most sordid ideological postulates of international fascism, trying to revive the failed and defeated Lima Group, who intend to ignore electoral results of the Presidential Elections," read Venezuela's statement.
Maduro was announced the winner — and another term of six years — over Edmundo González on Monday, one day after the election and before all polling stations verified and published their results. Maduro was declared the winner just after midnight with 51% of the vote. Independent exit polls pointed to a big opposition win for González, however.
"Venezuelans and the entire world know what happened," González said.
For his part, Maduro accused foreign governments of trying to hack the voting system.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States has "serious concerns" about the announced result.
The European Union will not recognize the results of Venezuela's presidential election until all polling station records are published and verified.
Venezuelan authorities postponed the release of results from each of the 30,000 polling booths nationwide, promising only to do so in the "coming hours." The delay hampered attempts to verify the results.
Information from Reuters and the Associated Press was used in this report.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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