The United States has ramped up pressure on Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro by formally recognising opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia as the country's president-elect, marking the first time the Biden administration has used this designation since July's disputed election.

The move, announced on November 19 by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the G20 summit in Brazil, represents Washington's strongest acknowledgement yet that the opposition won Venezuela's contested July election. "The Venezuelan people spoke resoundingly on July 28 and made González the president-elect," Blinken wrote on X. "Democracy demands respect for the will of the voters."

The declaration, which follows months of impassioned pleas from the opposition, prompted a fierce response from Caracas. Foreign Minister Yvan Gil dismissed it as "ridiculous" and labelled Blinken an "avowed enemy of Venezuela." Gil likened González to Juan Guaidó, whom the US unsuccessfully declared Venezuela's legitimate leader during Donald Trump's first term on the heels of the disputed 2018 presidential election.

The timing of the US announcement could complicate matters for Trump's incoming administration. The president-elect has appointed Florida Senator Marco Rubio, one of the Maduro regime's most vocal critics, as his next Secretary of State. Rubio, who has made his Cuban heritage and opposition to communism central to his political identity and has slammed the outgoing Biden administration for last year’s sanctions relief benefiting Venezuela, is expected to take a hawkish line against leftist governments in Latin America.

Despite earlier hopes for a detente under president-elect Trump, Maduro now faces the prospect of renewed "maximum pressure" tactics that saw wide-ranging sanctions imposed on Caracas’ key oil sector in 2019. Gonzalez’s recognition has already affected Venezuela's financial markets, with sovereign bonds maturing in 2027 falling to levels not seen since late October, as reported by Bloomberg.

González, who fled to Spain following an arrest warrant in Venezuela, responded positively to the news. "We are profoundly grateful for the recognition of the sovereign will of all Venezuelans," he wrote on X. "This gesture honours the change in our country and the civic feat that we carried out together this past July 28."

The 75-year-old seasoned diplomat has declared his intention to return to Venezuela for his scheduled inauguration on January 10, though he acknowledges the challenges ahead. González was a stand-in candidate for María Corina Machado, a popular opposition leader who was barred from running on spurious charges and is now in hiding.

Speaking of Rubio in an interview with Colombian TV network NTN24, Gonzalez said, “I hope to be able to speak with him before January 10. I know his track record, I have read many of his statements about autocratic regimes, I know what he thinks about the recovery of Venezuelan democracy.”

The election's aftermath has drawn criticism from the international community, including the European Union and former regional allies such as Brazil and Colombia.

While Maduro claimed victory, the regime-aligned National Electoral Council (CNE) has yet to release detailed polling numbers to support this assertion. The electoral body has blamed an unspecified “hacking attack” for its inability to release voting records. Meanwhile, the Democratic Unitary Platform, Venezuela's main opposition coalition, has published independently collected tallies they say prove González's win by a wide margin.

In September, the EU Parliament passed a non-binding resolution recognising Gonzalez as the "legitimate and democratically elected President of Venezuela" and calling for further sanctions on “Maduro and his inner circle.” However, it has not been enacted yet and thus remains a largely symbolic act.

Venezuela continues to face significant human rights concerns. Human Rights Watch estimates that at least 24 people were killed in the aftermath of the post-election protests, while new figures reveal there are currently 1,963 political prisoners in the country, according to the latest report by the non-governmental organisation Foro Penal. The Maduro regime last week released around 200 prisoners after a prominent opposition figure died in custody due to lack of medical care.

In a baffling declaration last month, Foreign Minister Gil stated that “Venezuela has no political prisoners and operates under full rule of law,” contradicting extensive documentation from international bodies and rights groups.