US Acknowledges Venezuelan Presidential Elections as Democratic

Caracas, Venezuela, December 6, 2006 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – The US government implicitly acknowledged the legitimacy of Venezuela’s December 3rd presidential election on Monday, where Hugo Chávez comfortably retained his position as president for the next 6 years.

After Chávez’ victory had been confirmed, White House National Security Council spokesperson Kate Starr made an official statement.  “We congratulate the Venezuelan people for demonstrating their commitment to a democratic process”, she said.

This change of tone was echoed by US Undersecretary of State for Latin America, Thomas Shannon.  In his victory speech, President Chávez said it was “another defeat for the devil”, referring to President George W Bush.  In contrast, Shannon said, “We do not want a relationship of confrontation [with Venezuela].”

“We’ve always looked for ways to deepen the dialogue with the government of President Chávez, and our hopes are that maybe at this moment he will show a greater interest”, he added.

Starr also said that the US would, “continue to seek a constructive relationship with the Venezuelan government in areas of mutual interest.”

Chávez himself on hearing the conciliatory comments did respond positively, while remaining cynical as to the real intentions of the US.  “If they want to speak on equal terms we accept”, he said.  But he added, referring to previous US behaviour towards Venezuela, “How are we going to have good relations with a government that has financed conspiratorial activities here?” 

Chávez went on to list the kinds of things he would expect to be on the agenda of a meeting with the US government.  These including the war in Iraq and the extradition of Luis Posada Carriles.  Posada Carriles is wanted in Venezuela to stand trial for his alleged involvement in blowing up a Cuban Airliner in 1976 when 73 civilians lost their lives.

The softened tone of the US government’s remarks come after the defeated Venezuelan opposition also took the first steps to a more conciliatory way in dealing with their failure to remove Chávez by extra-democratic means.  Defeated candidate Manuel Rosales conceded the election early on Sunday night saying he accepted the result, “The truth is that even with a closer margin, we recognize that today they defeated us, but we will stay in the struggle, in the fight, we will stay in the streets,” said Rosales.

Rosales also had words for his previous allies who he obviously thought might not agree with his decision to concede.  He said that he would not lie to Venezuelans about the elections because the truth would come out in the end.

In other parts of the world the victory of Chávez was also acknowledged.  "President Lula viewed Chávez’ victory as the expression of a wider process of ongoing social and political changes in Latin America, as appears from recent elections in the hemisphere," a spokesperson for the Brazilian government said.