Venezuelan armed forces confirm ‘absolute loyalty and subordination’ to dictator Nicolas Maduro after electoral fraud

The Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) of Venezuela ratified this Sunday his “absolute loyalty and subordination” to President Nicolás Maduro, after the validation of his victory in the July 28 elections by the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), controlled by magistrates sympathetic to Chavismo.

“Today we ratify “Our absolute loyalty and subordination to the Commander in Chief of the FANB and President, Nicolás Maduro, as well as to the legitimately constituted Bolivarian revolutionary process,” reads a message shared on Instagram by the strategic operational commander of the military institution, Domingo Hernández Lárez.

The Constitution, in its article 328, provides that the The FANB is an “essentially professional institution, without political militancy”, which is “at the exclusive service of the Nation and in no case at the service of any person or political party”.

According to the message published by Hernández Lárez, the Armed Forces “absolutely and categorically” respect the decision of the Electoral Chamber of the TSJ that confirms the results announced by the National Electoral Council (CNE), which grants victory to Maduro for a third consecutive term.

This official result is described as fraudulent by the majority opposition, which insists on the triumph of its standard-bearer, Edmundo González Urrutia.

The TSJ – chaired by the Chavista Caryslia Rodríguez – assumed the “validation” of the results at the request of Maduro, who filed an appeal that was never known and for which the 10 former candidates were summoned, although González Urrutia refused to attend, considering that the verification is not the responsibility of the Supreme Court, but of the CNE, which, 28 days after the elections, has not yet published the disaggregated data.

The leader of the main opposition coalition, the United Democratic Platform (PUD), rejected the TSJ’s decision and said that “sovereignty resides, in a non-transferable manner, in the people.”

The opposition bloc claims that its candidate won by a landslide, and published “83.5% of minutes” -which he claims to have obtained through witnesses and board members- to strengthen his claim, which has been supported by several countries and national and international organizations.

The anti-Chavismo majority urged the FANB to “enforce popular sovereignty” expressed during the presidential elections.

“Bolivia defends the principle of self-determination of peoples and respect for sovereignty. In this sense rejects any attempt to interfere in the politics of our countries and supports the democratic institutions of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela” wrote Bolivian President Luis Arce in X.

Likewise, the Bolivian Minister of Foreign Affairs, on the same social network, mentioned that Bolivia salutes and respects the “sovereign decision” of Venezuela’s TSJ which confirmed Maduro as the winner of the last elections.

In Bolivia, former President Evo Morales (2006-2009) also spoke a few days ago, congratulating Maduro and stressing that the TSJ ruled in a “clear, definitive and final” manner.

For his part, former President Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga (2001-2002) described the TSJ verdict as “Blow of the toga against popular sovereignty in Venezuela.”

(With information from EFE)