Venezuela closes borders ahead of election; Panama President Says Flight With Visitor Group Blocked From Entering Country | the world

Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino said today Friday (26) that a flight to Venezuela with former presidents was not authorized to take off due to the blockade of Venezuelan airspace.

Last week, Venezuela issued a decree Closure of country’s land, air and sea borders to people and vehicles from Friday midnight to Monday (29) 8amUnder the pretext of an effort to maintain and protect the security of the presidential election to be held on Sunday (28).

Among the plane’s passengers were former Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso and other foreign ministers, former Colombian Vice President Maria Lucia Ramirez and former Mexican President Vicente Fox, who “were denied permission to depart from Tocumen while the plane was still in flight,” Mulino said in a publication in X.

According to the Venezuelan Defense Decree, the closure of the borders is “to protect the inviolability of the borders and prevent the activities of persons who may pose threats to the security of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela at the instance of the President”. Election on July 28, 2024”.

Maduro’s move is one of a series of protests that have worried the international community. There are fears that the election process will not be transparent or that the president, who has been in power since 2012, will not step down if he loses the election. Maduro has already said there could be “bloodshed” and “civil war” in the country if he is not re-elected. He also ruled out the presence of several teams of international observers traveling to the country to closely monitor the vote.

A senior US official has asked Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to reconsider his decision to bar representatives of former presidents from entering the country.

“Nicolas Maduro has stopped all World Cup flights to Caracas and Venezuela,” Vicente Fox said in a video at Tocumen airport after getting off the plane.

President Mulino also noted that another Copa Airlines flight from Panama to Panama was not allowed to take off from Venezuela’s capital Caracas.

Venezuela’s information ministry and Coba Airlines did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment when this report was last updated.

Earlier this week, Argentina’s former president Alberto Fernandez and Brazil’s electoral court withdrew from acting as observers in Venezuela’s presidential election, sparking concerns about the fairness and transparency of the vote.