(20 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Caracas, Venezuela – 20 June 2024
1. Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro walking towards podium to sign agreement
2. Maduro signing agreement
3. Opposition candidate Antonio Ecarri signing agreement
4. Opposition candidate Javier Bertucci signing agreement
5. Maduro and other candidates applauding
6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Nicolás Maduro, president of Venezuela
"Today, we have taken a step forward to preserve peace. I welcome the signing of this document, which is perfectly in line with the Barbados document, the Caracas dialogue document and now the document of the electoral arbitrator. Whatever the electoral arbitrator says, amen."
7. National Electoral Council (CNE by its Spanish acronym) president Elvis Amoroso, calling opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez –who was absent–to sign the agreement. UPSOUND (Spanish) "He did not come to the call for the fatherland"
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Caracas, Venezuela – 11 June 2024
8. Various of opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez at an event
9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Edmundo Gonzalez, opposition candidate
"To sign an agreement for what? The government is the first one to violate signed agreements."
10. Opposition supporters applauding
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Caracas, Venezuela – 20 June 2024
11. Various of CNE president Elvis Amoroso greeting candidates
12. Various of Maduro exiting room
13. Various of exterior of CNE building
STORYLINE:
Eight of 10 candidates in Venezuela’s upcoming presidential election, including President Nicolás Maduro, signed an agreement on Thursday binding them to respect the results of the contest as announced by electoral authorities.
“Now, it is the document of the electoral arbiter. Whatever the electoral arbiter says, amen,” Maduro told reporters after the signing ceremony.
The agreement, however, wasn’t signed by Edmundo González Urrutia, the only opposition candidate with a real chance of ending Maduro’s quest for a third term on July 28.
"To sign an agreement for what?", said Urrutia weeks ago during an event at the headquarters of one the opposition parties. "The government is the first one to violate signed agreements"
González, in a statement issued earlier today, said an “agreement can never be imposed unilaterally" and “must emerge from a respectful dialogue between the parties.”
He said the government has already violated the so-called Barbados Agreement it entered into last year with the opposition coalition he represents.
Under the agreement, which was signed in Barbados, both sides vowed to work toward improving conditions for a free and fair election.
But Maduro and his allies have continuously tested the limits of the accord, including by blocking the candidacy of María Corina Machado, who won the presidential primary of the U.S.-backed Unitary Platform coalition, as well as of her chosen substitute.
AP Video shot by Juan Arraez
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