Cuba Emphatically Rejects Interference in Venezuelan Elections

Headquarters of the National Electoral Council in Caracas, Venezuela, July 2024, Photo: X/ @paulvnzla

August 10, 2024: 2:34 pm

The baseless accusation was fabricated by former high-ranking Colombian official Francisco Santos.

On Saturday, the Cuban of Foreign Affairs Ministry (MINREX) issued a statement denying fake information about the alleged interference of Cuban computer experts in the Venezuelan presidential elections held on July 28, when President Nicolas Maduro was re-elected for the 2025-2031 term.

“It is absolutely false that specialists in computer science or any other fields have traveled from Cuba to Venezuela with the purpose of altering the results of the presidential elections. This baseless accusation, fabricated by former high-ranking Colombian official Francisco Santos, is not supported by evidence because none exists,” it stated.

“This lie’s promoter is known for his active participation in disinformation campaigns and his involvement in various political scandals. In Dec. 2021, he falsely claimed that the commander of a Colombian guerrilla group, Ivan Marquez, was in Cuba, which was categorically disproven by reality,” MINREX recalled.

“The politically motivated construction of a matrix of lies attributing to Cuba responsibility for the outcomes achieved by the contenders in the Venezuelan elections is accepted as truth by those who traditionally participate in campaigns of misinformation about Cuba,” it emphasized.

Earlier, during the UN Convention on Cybercrime held in New York on Friday, Venezuelan Ambassador Joaquin Perez denounced that his country is being subjected to a cyber coup d’état orchestrated by the transnational far right and other powerful actors who control major media outlets and social networks.

“The meeting represents a unique opportunity for this organization to take concrete steps towards ending the perpetration of cyber coups like the one currently underway in our country,” he said, referring to the media attacks that have been carried out against Venezuela since the day of the elections.

“The magnitude of this new aggression against Venezuela, which includes the malicious use of ICTs, highlights the importance of this Convention and how these so-called cybercrimes are criminally used to advance disinformation campaigns, to stifle the right to inform and be informed, to interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign states, including their electoral processes, and to foster chaos, anxiety, and violent extremism leading to terrorism,” the Bolivarian ambassador pointed out.