cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/18188737

Venezuelans are ready to throw off the dictatorship. Will the international community support us?

By Maria Corina Machado

I am writing this from hiding, fearing for my life, my freedom, and that of my fellow countrymen from the dictatorship led by Nicolás Maduro.

Mr. Maduro didn’t win the Venezuelan presidential election on Sunday. He lost in a landslide to Edmundo González, 67% to 30%. I know this to be true because I can prove it. I have receipts obtained directly from more than 80% of the nation’s polling stations.

We knew that Mr. Maduro’s government was going to cheat. We have known for years what tricks the regime uses, and we are well aware that the National Electoral Council is entirely under its control. It was unthinkable that Mr. Maduro would concede defeat.

We Venezuelans have done our duty. We have voted out Mr. Maduro. Now it is up to the international community to decide whether to tolerate a demonstrably illegitimate government. The repression must stop immediately, so that an urgent agreement can take place to facilitate the transition to democracy. I call on those who reject authoritarianism and support democracy to join the Venezuelan people in our noble cause. We won’t rest until we are free.

PODGORICA, July 12 (Reuters) - A Montenegro court acquitted 13 people including pro-Russian politicians and two Russian intelligence officers on Friday in a retrial over an alleged 2016 election day plot to topple the government and kill then-prime minister Milo Djukanovic. The defendants were initially convicted in 2019 and given long prison terms over the alleged plot against the pro-Western Djukanovic, who led the small Adriatic state almost continuously as premier or president for three decades until 2023. But the verdict was overturned on appeal in 2021 and a retrial was ordered.

China's foreign minister Wang Yi has hit back at Nato's "groundless accusations" that Beijing is helping Russia in its war on Ukraine.

He has also warned the Western alliance against stirring up confrontation.

Mr Wang's comments, made in a call with his Dutch counterpart, came hours after leaders of Nato member states gathered in Washington DC and issued a declaration that mentioned the war.

They accused China of being a "decisive enabler" of Russia through its "large-scale support for Russia's defence industrial base", in some of their harshest remarks yet about Beijing.

cross-posted from: https://fed.dyne.org/post/185621