MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguay recognizes Edmundo González Urrutia as President-elect and breaks diplomatic ties with Caracas

Paraguay gave Venezuela's diplomatic mission 48 hours to leave the country

The Paraguayan Government of President Santiago Peña Monday announced it was recognizing Edmundo González Urrutia of the opposition Unitarian Democratic Platform (PUD) as the legitimate winner of the July 28, 2024, elections in Venezuela, which prompted a diplomatic breakup with Nicolás Maduro's regime.

Peña gave the Chavista mission 48 hours to leave Asunción and Bolivarian Foreign Minister Yván Gil instructed the Paraguayan mission to do the same. Gil argued in a statement that Peña disregarded the international principle of non-intervention in other countries' businesses and insisted he was repeating the practices of the extinct Lima Group “with its ridiculous adventure called [Juan] Guaidó.”

“No buffoonery instructed from international fascism will succeed in bending the will of a people firm in the construction of its own destiny,” Gil also mentioned.

“It is regrettable that governments such as Paraguay's continue to subordinate their foreign policy to the interests of foreign powers, promoting agendas aimed at undermining democratic principles and the will of free peoples,” the Chavista regime insisted.

“In this context, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has decided, in full exercise of its sovereignty, to break diplomatic relations with the Republic of Paraguay and to proceed to the immediate withdrawal of its diplomatic personnel accredited in that country,” Caracas went on.

Meanwhile, Asunción's document recognized González Urrutia as President-elect of Venezuela and demanded the departure of Ambassador Ricardo Capella and other diplomatic staffers from the country. The Paraguayan head of state also gave Capella and his team 48 hours to leave the country.

Peña's Government also ratified “Paraguay's firm and forceful support to the right of the Venezuelan people to live in democracy” under the rule of law, with absolute respect to their fundamental freedoms and guarantees.

The Colorado leader had spoken on Sunday evening with González Urrutia as well as with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado in a videoconference during which he reiterated Asunción's support following the independent international assessment of the electoral process and vote count. Also participating in the talks was Paraguayan Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez Lezcano.

Diplomatic ties between the two countries were severed in January 2019 when then-Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez ordered the closure of the Embassy in Caracas and the withdrawal of Venezuelan diplomatic personnel from Asunción. But in September 2023, Peña and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro agreed to reestablish the short-lived link.