South American countries call on Venezuelan government to 'respect the popular will'

Seven Latin American countries called on the Venezuelan government to "respect the popular will expressed by the Venezuelan people at the polls," as uncertainty regarding its next actions persist.

Concretely, the foreign ministers of Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republican and Uruguay issued a joint statement saying they are "closely following the events in Venezuela" and "consider it indispensable to have guarantees that the electoral result will clearly respect the popular will expressed by the Venezuelan people at the polls."

"That can only be achieved through transparent tallying which allows the verification and control by overseers from all parties," the document concludes.

As polls closed in Venezuela, Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate and current Vice President of the United States, said the country "stands with Venezuela" and also called for the respect of the election's results.

"The United States stands with the people of Venezuela who expressed their voice in today's historic presidential election. The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected. Despite the many challenges, we will continue to work toward a more democratic, prosperous, and secure future for the people of Venezuela," Harris said on social media.

Later in the night, Chilean President Gabriel Boric said that the delivery of the results must be "transparent, timely and clearly reflect the people's will expressed at the polls." "The international community, of which Chile is part, won't accept anything else," he added in a publication on X.

Tension and uncertainty are running high in Venezuela regarding the government's next move. Top government official Diosdado Cabello called on its supporters to "take the streets" to defend the results which, he claims, favor them.

"Let's not think it further, let's go to the streets, to the electoral centers, because these people (the opposition) don't understand reason, they understand people outside," he said. "Let's move, let's move. The people voted overwhelmingly, the electoral council will show those results, they know they don't favor them and will look to create violence. So let's defend our votes," he added.

Opposition leaders, on their end, called for overseers to stay in the voting centers until getting formal documents with the results. "We've fought through the years to get to this day. These are the most crucial minutes, hours," said top leader María Corina Machado.