Estefania Melendez, SEE Representative to the Interim President of Venezuela Juan Guaido, “Business Start”, 23.11.2021

At the moment there is no progress that Bulgaria’s position towards Venezuela will change. The representatives of Venezuela in Southeast Europe have an excellent relationship with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bulgaria, as a representative of the Ministry is fully aware of the situation in Venezuela. This was requested by Estefania Melendez, SEE representative of the interim president of Venezuela Juan Guaido, on the air of the show “In development” hosted by Delyan Petrishki.

“We are open to discussion with the new Bulgarian government and hope to continue to receive Bulgaria’s support.”

Estefania Melendez also commented on the recent local elections, which took place in Venezuela and in which the Socialists declared an impressive victory. She claims that the purely legal conduct of an election process does not mean that citizens have the right to choose.

“There are more than 250 political prisoners in Venezuela, many parties are banned, and political leaders are in exile. Maduro’s opposition was not sure if it made any sense to run in this election. ”

Melendez said more than 60% of Venezuela’s population did not vote in the local elections. It is of the opinion that the EU mission, which will be sent there to observe the election process, has found very serious violations.

“We want to end this dictatorship through peace talks and I want to unite all opposition parties behind this idea.”

Estefania Melendez says that the opposition in Venezuela has its differences of opinion and each of them focuses on the different problem of the life of Venezuelan citizens. However, President Juan Guaido has called on all opposition forces to unite in retrospect to remove the illegitimate dictator Maduro. Melendez is adamant that Maduro has no legitimate right to identify himself as Venezuela’s leader and to stress that all democracies share this view.

“There are countries that spread false claims, but the whole democratic world supports us.”

For Estefania Melendez, it is particularly telling that the International Criminal Court has launched an open investigation against Maduro on charges of human rights abuses, killings and repression. This is another country in South America that is the subject of such an investigation.

“The judiciary in Venezuela is not working properly. The International Criminal Court has ruled that the country’s courts are not creating enough to stop repression and killings. “

A similar decree was created by the UN Human Rights Council, said Estefania Melendez and expressed her sincere gratitude to Bulgaria for the assistance she provided during the adoption of the resolution, which would approve the funding of the independent study of the crime against humanity.

Melendez is adamant that the negotiations between the united position and the Socialists around Maduro, which will take place in Mexico City, will only lead to fair presidential elections. She added that Venezuela will need the support of the international community to seek pressure by declaring its support for democratic principles in Venezuela.

You can hear the whole conversation in the video.

You can see all the guests of the show “In development” here