Celso Amorim, a special adviser to the Brazilian presidency, told Reuters that if the government of Nicolás Maduro decides to move forward with the arrest of González Urrutia “it would be a political arrest, and we do not accept political prisoners.”
The special advisor to the Brazilian Presidency, Celso Amorim, warned on Tuesday, September 3, about an “escalation of repression” in Venezuela, following the arrest warrant issued against opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia by an anti-terrorism court.
In an interview for the agency ReutersAmorim rejected the arrest warrant against González Urrutia, accused by the Venezuelan Prosecutor’s Office of several crimes, including conspiracy and forging public documents, by linking him to the maintenance of the website resultadosconvzla.com, where 86% of the voting records of the presidential elections of July 28 have been published.
According to the prosecutor, an issue supported by the Supreme Court of Justice, these minutes that give victory with 67.3% of the votes to Edmundo González are “forged.” The arrest warrant was condemned by several countriesincluding the United States, Canada, Chile and the European Union bloc. The UN, for its part, warned of the “climate of fear” that has been established in the country.
Celso Amorim said to Reuters that if the government of Nicolás Maduro decides to move forward with the arrest of González Urrutia “it would be a political arrest, and we do not accept political prisoners.”
“There is no way to deny that there is an escalation of authoritarianism in Venezuela. We do not feel open to dialogue, there is a very strong reaction to any comment,” said Amorim, who added that Brazil still has hopes of finding a solution to the Venezuelan crisis.
The Brazilian government, together with its partners from Colombia and Mexico, began a series of talks weeks ago to find a solution to the new political crisis, following the results issued by the National Electoral Council on the presidential elections, which declared Maduro the winner.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has said he will not recognize Maduro as the winner of the election without the disaggregated results being published, a matter on which the CNE has been delayed for just over a month. On the opposition side, Maria Corina Machado and Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia claim that, according to the minutes in their possession and available to the public, the diplomat has won by a wide margin.
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