International leaders refuse to recognize Maduro's victory in the presidential elections

Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner of the Venezuelan presidential elections by the government-friendly electoral council, but the victory is far from uncontested. Not only the opposition has vowed to challenged the result, but some countries are already refusing to recognize it as well.

Others have rushed to do recognize them, with Chavista leaders also denouncing local and international plots to rig the election results.

For instance, the country's Foreign Minister Yvan Gil has condemned what he says in a foreign effort to intervene in the country's election. In a statement posted to X, he says the right to self-determination and the sovereignty of Venezuela's homeland is threatened by a group of foreign governments and powers.

"This group is a version of the infamous, defunct and defeated Lima group," which includes Latin American countries like Ecuador and Guatemala, he said. "The same people who recognized a puppet in 2019 intend to impose him today in 2024," he said in reference to Juan Guaido who was recognized as Venezuela's acting president by some countries.

But despite these allegations, international leaders quickly took to social media to reject Maduro's victory.

In the U.S., Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised doubts about the contest. "We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people," Blinken said in a press conference at the Quad ministerial in Tokyo.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric joined the repudiation. His administration had previously expressed concerns about the conditions for free and fair elections in Venezuela, having highlighted that the requirements for a transparent contest are not being met.

"The Maduro regime must understand that the results it publishes are difficult to believe. The international community and especially the Venezuelan people, including the millions of Venezuelans in exile, demand total transparency of the minutes and the process," the president said in X. "From Chile we will not recognize any result that is not verifiable."

Peru's government, which has taken in around 1.5 million Venezuelans since 2018 amid the unprecedented exodus due to the ongoing humanitarian crisis also said they would not accept the election results, declaring the country will "not accept the violation of the popular will of the Venezuelan people."

Costa Rica and Uruguay were also among the countries in Latin America who took to their social media platforms to share their initial thoughts on Maduro's victory.

Meanwhile, Honduras, Bolivia and Cuba— some of Maduro's long-lasting allies— were among the few countries in Latin America who accepted his victory right away, highlighting their shared socialist beliefs and their respective countries' relationships.

"Nicolas Maduro, my brother, your victory, which is that of the Bolivarian and Chavista people, has cleanly and unequivocally defeated the pro-imperialist opposition," said Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel. "They also defeated the regional, interventionist and Monroist right. The people spoke and the Revolution won."