Canada still hasn't recognized the likely winner of Venezuela's election — Venezuelans want to know why

Some Venezuelan-Canadians say the Trudeau government has failed to stand up for democracy in its response to the July 28 Venezuelan presidential election — an election tainted by widespread evidence of fraud and a government campaign of arrests, disappearances and torture of poll workers.

Venezuelan presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia ruled out seeking asylum abroad yesterday after a judge loyal to the Nicolas Maduro regime issued a warrant for his arrest on Monday.

Global Affairs Canada condemned the arrest warrant in a media statement. Gonzalez was still in hiding when this article was published.

According to digitized returns, Gonzalez's unified opposition won the great majority of votes in the election. But his victory has been rejected by the Maduro regime, which claims to have received 51 per cent of the vote. It is backed by Venezuela's courts and its National Election Commission, both packed with hand-picked Maduro loyalists.

While Gonzalez and his partner, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, have refused international protection, they have asked for international recognition.

Guaido yes, Gonzalez no

In a sharp contrast to its attitude during Venezuela's last major contested election, Canada has so far failed to throw its support behind Gonzalez by declaring him the real winner of the election.

Canada was the second country in the world, after the United States, to recognize Juan Guaido when he was declared interim president by the country's elected National Assembly in response to the fraudulent presidential election of 2018.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken recognized Gonzalez as the legitimate winner of the election on August 1. Peru did so two days before. Argentina, Ecuador, Uruguay and Panama