AREQUIPA, Peru – Colombian President Gustavo Petro wants to talk again with Nicolás Maduro about the political crisis unleashed in Venezuela following the presidential elections on July 28.
In statements for the EFE agencyColombian Vice-Chancellor Jorge Rojas, referred to his president’s intentions on Friday, pointing out that Bogotá maintains open dialogue at all levels with Caracas.
According to the senior official, the inauguration of Mexican President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, which will take place on October 1, could be a good opportunity for Petro and Maduro to seek a political solution to the situation in Venezuela.
“We are seeking a new conversation between the two presidents (Gustavo Petro and Nicolás Maduro) and then between everyone,” he said, referring to the participation of the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and the outgoing president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Rojas is currently touring Europe, with stops in Germany and Switzerland before traveling to Spain, where he has no plans to meet with Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutiarecognized by the European Parliament as the winner of the elections in Venezuela.
The Maduro government is recognized by the Colombian Executive until January 2025, when the elected president is expected to take office.
On July 29, the official National Electoral Council (CNE), controlled by Chavismo, accredited Maduro’s victory without presenting the minutes of the elections in detail to validate that result.
“We want these results to be reliable so we can determine who won the election,” Rojas said.
For its part, the Venezuelan Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) published weeks ago on the Internet the minutes that prove González Urrutia’s victory.
The Colombian Vice-Chancellor has declaredThe Spanish medium ABC that it is difficult for his government to accept the results of the CNE, also ratified by the Supreme Court of Justice, under Maduro’s control.
Post-election crisis in Venezuela
The UN Fact-Finding Mission for Venezuela reported last Tuesday that at least 158 children were detained during the first protests that broke out after the presidential elections in the country.
Among those arrested are minors with disabilities, accused of serious crimes such as terrorism and inciting hatred. These detainees are part of the more than 2,200 people arrested, according to figures provided by the Venezuelan government itself.
The mission, created by the UN Human Rights Council to document rights violations in Venezuela, denounced that the regime Nicolas Maduro is committing crimes against humanity for political reasons.
Marta Valiñas, president of the mission and Portuguese jurist, He stated that the government apparatus has focused its efforts on crushing all peaceful opposition through a continuous and coordinated plan to silence and repress those who dissent from official rhetoric. “We are witnessing an intensification of the State’s repressive apparatus. Although this is a continuation of previous patterns, the recent repression, due to its intensity and systematic nature, represents a very serious attack on the fundamental rights of the Venezuelan people,” said Valiñas during the presentation of the report in Geneva.
The report, which covers the period between September 2023 and August 2024, highlights that the current crisis in Venezuela is “the worst in recent history” and that, following the presidential elections on July 28, “a new milestone in the deterioration of the rule of law” has been reached.
According to the mission, the Venezuelan authorities no longer attempt to pretend independence, leaving citizens totally defenseless against state arbitrariness and causing many judicial guarantees to lose their effectiveness.
Documented incidents include 48 arrests between December and March on conspiracy charges, as well as 120 arrests in July during the election campaign. In total, more than 2,000 people were arrested following the vote count.
The mission, which also includes Chilean lawyer Francisco Cox and Argentine expert Patricia Tappatá, will officially present its report to the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday, denouncing how the Venezuelan state’s escalation of repression has plunged the country into an unprecedented crisis.
