United States still not recognizing Maduro

[Enrique]

María Elena Salinas: I have two more questions. One is does the U.S. recognize Nicolás Maduro as the legitimate President of Venezuela?

Presidente Barack Obama: Well, you know, I think it’s not what the U.S. alone is concerned about. But I think that the entire hemisphere* has been watching the violence, the protests, the crackdowns on the opposition. I think our general view has been that it’s up to the people of Venezuela to choose their leaders in legitimate elections. And that our approach to the entire hemisphere is not ideological. It’s not rooted back in the Cold War. It’s based on the notion of our basic principles of human rights and democracy and freedom of press and freedom of assembly. Are those being observed? There are reports that they have not been fully observed post-election. And you know, I think our only interest at this point is making sure that the people of Venezuela are able to determine their own destiny free from the kinds of practices that the entire hemisphere generally has moved away from. And one of the great stories of Central and South America, one of the great stories of progress economically is rooted in the fact that we’ve seen this enormous shift towards democracy, towards freedom. You’re seeing it here in Mexico where we just had a peaceful transition between parties after an election. You‘re seeing it in Colombia, in Chile, in Peru. And you know, I think that what the Venezuelan people want is basically that same approach.

Más en Univision.com: http://noticias.univision.com/estados-unidos/noticias/article/2013-05-04/transcripcion-entrevista-obama#ixzz2SKA66ycJ

*Despite Obama's suggestion, the entire hemisphere has recognized Maduro, and the U.S. is indeed alone in not recognizing him. And the failure to recognize him contributes to the violence, and it is reasonable to suspect that this is a deliberate strategy to bring about regime change.

[byeya]

1. Disgraceful 0bama, disgraceful.

[Quantess]

2. Am I mistaken, or is this the same new leader of a latin american country

who recently sent a pre-emptive admonishment to the Obama administration?

[OKNancy]

3. Where does it say that in the article or the quote?

I think our general view has been that it’s up to the people of Venezuela to choose their leaders in legitimate elections. And that our approach to the entire hemisphere is not ideological. It’s not rooted back in the Cold War. It’s based on the notion of our basic principles of human rights and democracy and freedom of press and freedom of assembly. Are those being observed? There are reports that they have not been fully observed post-election. And you know, I think our only interest at this point is making sure that the people of Venezuela are able to determine their own destiny free from the kinds of practices that the entire hemisphere generally has moved away from.

ETA: sounds like to me that he won't say one way or the other, or a decision has not been made.

[Enrique]

6. the US is questioning the legitimacy of the election

John Kerry called for a recount

[dipsydoodle]

4. Notice that he failed to answer the question

to which yes or no were appropriate answers as opposed to a speech.

[marmar]

5. Of course not, we've got to make the world safe for hypocrisy.

nt

[byeya]

7. I think it's a positive development that the nations of the hemisphere have developed

OAS-type organizations and keeping the USA and Canada out.

[lunasun]

8. +1

[Benton D Struckcheon]

9. The only explanation to this is an indirect route to getting at Cuba

They must be desperate to have Venezuela cut off oil to Cuba. I can't see Venezuela itself being the concern here. It's not like because Maduro won we won't get Venezuelan oil. They know that. Venezuela needs us to buy it, we need them to sell it. So the only logic to this stance is Cuba.
They aren't going to get what they want, so even if that was the strategy, it's time to cut losses. Every day they continue with this just makes them look dumber and dumber.

[Gman]

10. "...has been watching the violence,

the protests, the crackdowns on the opposition..."

Oh, sorry. I thought he was talking about the Occupy movement.

[fleabiscuit]

11. Probably at least as legitimate as Bush was?

[bemildred]

12. You are not helping our case Barack, the entire hemisphere is watching US act like sore losers. nt

[pa28]

13. Disgraceful. Maybe he should read the "reports" more deeply. n/t

[bvar22]

14. You would think that someone who pays so much Lip Service to DEMOCRACY...

...would be more supportive of the REAL thing.


VIVA Democracy!
I hope we get some here soon!

[Hell Hath No Fury]

15. Obama --

You're embarrassing yourself. And us.