Regarding the importance of these legislative and parliamentary elections for Venezuela, where for the first time, for the first time, Equatorial Guiana participates in this process, our guest Ivonne Tellez, International Law Expert, makes an analysis on the matter. teleSUR
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00:00And as we continue to talk about this important electoral day in Venezuela, let's now welcome international law expert Yvonne Tellez, who joins us here in From the South to speak more about the importance of this electoral day for Venezuelans.
00:14Hello, Yvonne. Welcome to From the South.
00:17Good afternoon. Happy to be here.
00:21It's always a pleasure to have you. Yvonne, what is your take? What is the importance, the significance of this electoral day for Venezuela, with especially, as we were talking previously, the incorporation of the region of Guayana-Esequiba that is also voting for the first time for its authorities in this important electoral day?
00:40Okay. Well, electoral processes will always be necessary in order to gain and provide legitimacy to the government to allow the transition processes of political processes and also to bring people the feeling and the empowerment that they have in order to elect
01:09their representatives. So electoral process as one of the principal factors of a healthy democracy will always be needed in the sense, well, we have to take into account, of course, that this development, this electional day is happening within a highly polarized environment.
01:39So it shows these ongoing challenges that the country is facing and the democratic institutions are facing. So those are necessary measures in order to provide and restore the legitimacy and the confidence of the voters.
01:56Also because these developments, for example, regarding the Esequibo region, underscored the need for a dialogue, for a continued dialogue and those sets.
02:11They try to intentionally try to distort the Venezuelan reality of what is happening in Venezuela. That's why calls have been made for people to come.
02:18There are over 400,000 international observers right now in Venezuela seeing, observing these elections, how they are being developed, and so far they have been saying how good, how transparent the system, the voting system, the machines use, how effective they are.
02:33Why do you think there is this constant need to try to slander the voting system in Venezuela?
02:40Okay, well, elections, we have to remember that elections are part of an internal process, that there are international law principles. One of them is the non-interference in international affairs of our countries.
02:58In that sense, elections must be held within an independent form because it's an internal issue. That's the first thing in this case. So this is a sovereign internal issue for Venezuelans.
03:19However, the demand for recognition of governments allows for international presence to be under these electoral processes within the countries in order to provide and to show, of course, that those are carried out, as you were saying, under very regular processes,
03:48and very transparent processes. I think that what we are seeing here is unusual rhetoric. There has been a historical stand from an historical boycott, in a way, from the international system, from some international powers,
04:16that have always tried to underscore what has been happening within the country. And this is something that we cannot avoid because this political opinion cannot be avoided. But under international law rules, we have to take into account that these internal processes have to be independent.
04:40And if the country is showing that the rules are being followed. And if the country is showing that the rules are being followed, I mean, when I'm talking about the rules, I'm talking about the transparency and the forms of these electoral processes, this is a completely autonomous, independent, sovereign process that cannot be judged by international opinions because this is an internal process.
05:06However, however, recognition and political recognition always tries to boycott or underscore this, this, but this has, I mean, this cannot be seen as a, as a wall or as a, as a, as a, yes, as a wall in order to prohibit or limit the effects of the upcoming results,
05:34upcoming results because this is an internal process.
05:39Yvonne, coming to this election day during the week, there were several declarations by the security authorities in Venezuela of the people that have been detained, foreign mercenaries that were trying to enter the nation with plans to carry out certain violent actions or link to that extremist far right that exists in the country with contacts, with contacts from abroad, with financing from abroad.
06:01Would you consider that the fact that the fact that today the election is taking place in peace and tranquility and people have come out in numbers to vote, will this, is this at the feet, at the feet for that sector that was trying to boycott the election day?
06:16Well, I think that Venezuela has, Venezuela has to recognize that under some, I mean, under, under the political conditions that it has faced over the last 10 years, more or less,
06:35this democratic confidence, this democratic confidence in the institutions has to be restored and this election is a way to show that people can actually decide the, the way they had, they want the representatives to, to, to carry on the decisions for the country.
06:58In the sense, any interference that comes from abroad that tends to diminish and tends to attack or change the, the results or the environment, or at least try, tries to bring violent riots or violent responses to this process has to be avoided because,
07:25again, again, the country has to find its own ways to, to gain confidence and to decide whatever way it wants to be governed.
07:41This is, this is, this is, this is under the principles of international law, the, the, as I was saying before, the non-interference of, of foreign powers within international, sorry, within internal affairs, the auto, the self-determination of states as well.
08:06So, uh, so, uh, so, uh, I think what any, any, uh, external interference that's, that tries to diminish and tries to, uh, boycott or affect the internal result has to be avoided.
08:21What, what, uh, however, what has to be taken into account is how the state, uh, avoids this kind of, of threats because under the international rules and under the international opinion,
08:37some measures can be seen as non-democratic, uh, or as non, um, normal ways in order to avoid this threat.
08:47So, this is what has to be taken into account from the Venezuelan part.
08:52And I'm talking about the forms and how it approaches these kinds of, of, of threats or possible, uh, attacks under, uh, to its, uh, internal and sovereign processes.
09:06You were talking about international, uh, rules that should be followed, of course, but how, how can we describe what happens in reality when we see international organizations act with double standards?
09:19For example, in the case of, we stay in Venezuela. All, the, over 200 Venezuelan migrants are currently kidnapped and imprisoned in this very harsh detention center in El Salvador that were taken there with any kind of due trial, any due process.
09:34And they haven't, most of them have never even been in El Salvador and currently detained in El Salvador.
09:39For example, the treatment that the Venezuelan migrants are receiving in the U.S., for example.
09:43And quite recently, the literal kidnapping of a two-year-old girl, Mike Kelly's, from, taken away from the arms of her mother.
09:51And the president, Nicolas Maduro, has, he'd said himself that he called Volker Turk, the representative of human affairs, and there's been silence.
10:00In many cases, these international organizations stay silenced in certain aspects, and then they are quick to judge in other aspects.
10:07Why does this happen? Why is this double standard?
10:10And is this a way because many leaders have said that the current U.N. system and things like this should be modified or completely changed for something new to create something,
10:20a new multilateral world with new, with a, a true multilateral international order. Why is this happening?
10:27Well, yes, I agree with you, definitely, regarding the double standards that have always featured and characterized the international system.
10:41We cannot avoid that. Definitely, we are seeing that, as you were saying perfectly, there is a demand and there is an interference within the Venezuelan internal processes.
10:56There are no processes, political processes, that belongs only to the Venezuelans. And on the other way, we are seeing how people from Venezuela, migrants from Venezuela, are being criminalized, are being stigmatized, and are being treated under the, without any respect for the international human rights system and the international system.
11:19I agree with you, definitely. And one of the main principles of the international society is definitely reciprocity. That means that whenever this rule is broken, then you will find the same kind of treatment.
11:38But that is not how it has to be done. And under, in this sense, as you were saying, this, I think we're facing definitely a kind of a fracture within the international system as how it was built 80 years ago, regarding how the rules were imposed, because we're seeing that the reality right now demands for other different approaches.
12:02And that is also, for example, in order to give the boys to other kinds of powers of countries, because the rules, even though they are thought of as being very equitable,
12:18they do not apply in the same sense, because they are being applied with this economic and political positions and criteria, not just the rule of law, as it has to be applied, that has to be independent from all these political and economic pressures.
12:41In this sense, I think this, what we are facing, that this humanitarian crisis that migrants abroad are facing and this stigmatization calls for a very hard and very strong response for the international community, because there's,
12:59in this, in this case, in this case, in this case, in this case, the U.S. and El Salvador, who are treating those people as if they were all part of the most, I don't know, powerful gangs of people, and even, and let's, I have to highlight this,
13:24in this, even if you have been convicted, or if there are suspicions that any person, any human being is being part of some illegal processes, let's think about that as an exception, you cannot get rid of, you cannot get, I mean, there's no way that a human being can be the knife of the complete,
13:52complete recognition of the human rights that we have. And what is happening here is we're seeing torture is we're seeing non human standards being applied to this kind of repression that this demands for a very high and very harsh response for the international community.
14:16And in this case, the Venezuelan state has to be very strong in its demands. And this comes along with, as we're saying, with the double standards regarding how the internal processes have to be respected
14:31in an independent way and how the international community has to respect that and has to respect the human beings from other parts of the world. In this case, how Venezuelans are being treated.
14:44Yvonne, going back to Venezuela, going back to the region, the impact of these regional elections and the legislative elections, how would you describe the impact, I'm sorry to repeat the word over and over, the impact that the results for the stability for the coming development will have for this nation, for Venezuela, especially taking into account what happened in 2015 when the opposition sector won the legislative election,
15:11but then we saw everything that came after that year 2015 when the opposition was in power of the national assembly.
15:18Okay, well, I think that the expectations are big regarding the how the political internal process of Venezuela restores itself. As I said before, how it restores confidence. For example, the fact that there have been two faces to two ways that the opposition has
15:42has confronted this election day. On one way, we have seen that there is a movement that has, and I'm talking about leader Maria Corina Machado, she said, and she has asked for the people not to go to the election, not to vote, basically, and on the other way, we've seen other faces of the opposition that are participating in this case.
16:11Why is this healthy? Because the government, and a healthy government, needs the plurality of voices. This is part of the nature of politics. This is part of the nature of a government. So, we don't know what the results are going to be. However, let's hope that these results come in a way that show that the
16:41confidence and confidence and confidence and confidence and confidence and confidence and transparency in order for the people to know what that their elections and what they voted for are the representatives are will be recognized as winners of this process. And if this happens in that way that that this how it's expected, this will show the legitimacy and the plurality of voices regarding
17:05a state that needs a state that needs a state that needs a lot of political
17:12composition of composition of composition of forces in order to show that it can be a healthy environment, a healthy political environment, independent of international forces, independent of international interference, but it has to show and it has to provide the people the confidence that their elections and that their votes have a result.
17:37And this, I think this, I think this is the high demand of this day. If this happens, I think we can follow a very, and I'm saying that again and again, I'm talking about healthy, but I think it's the best adjective that we can use in this case, because it will show how effective can those internal forces make a kind of a
18:04recomposition of a recomposition of a recomposition of a recomposition of powers in order for a transition, this political transition, leaving behind all these political issues that the country has faced along this 10 years, more or less, this last 10 years.
18:24Yvonne, in your opinion, as an international law expert, what needs to happen for, especially abroad, people begin to recognize
18:34and what you were talking about, what you were talking about, what you were talking about, the institutionality, the strength of the institutionality.
18:39Well, I think that this has to do with the forms of how Venezuela shows that it's following the democratic and the transparency, I mean, the democratic rules and transparency. I think it depends on the forms. There is a stigma for Venezuela from the international standpoint.
19:07So I think that only facts, not narratives, not discourses, but only facts will restore and, in a way, give back this recognition. But this has to do with time, definitely with time, with facts, and how population within Venezuela react to this
19:36to this, for example, this polls, because what we see regarding, and what is seen from the international standpoint, regarding, for example, how population react to this kind of processes, brings and has a lot of impact. So if we see that people begin to gain confidence in their own institutions, in the
20:06in these internal processes, this will have an echo on international community, because this will help to change the opinion. And when you move towards and you change the opinion, then recognition and legitimacy come along.
20:13Thank you, Yvonne, for your time and your important inputs here in this special from the South.
20:15Thank you. Thank you for the invitation.
20:20Thank you. Thank you for the invitation.
20:22Thank you, Yvonne, for your time and your important inputs here in this special from the South.
20:29inputs here in this special from the south thank you thank you for the invitation