Presidents Gustavo Petro and Lula da Silva, of Colombia and Brazil respectively, continue to mediate to address the crisis that Venezuela has been experiencing since the National Electoral Council (CNE) announced the controversial reelection of Maduro. Both governments stated that they would not recognize the results of the election until they present the electoral records.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said that both his country and Brazil will refuse to recognize Nicolás Maduro’s victory in Venezuela’s presidential elections unless the records of the July 28 elections are presented.
During an interview with CNN in New York, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Petro said he would speak with Brazilian President Lula Da Silva.
“We agreed on a key point: if there is no presentation of minutes, there is no recognition of the elections. We are going to meet here in New York and then in Mexico at the presidential change to build a common position of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia with the aim of finding a political solution in Venezuela,” Petro said.
To date, neither Colombia nor Brazil have recognized Maduro’s re-election, nor have they endorsed the victory of opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia. Both leaders advocate the disclosure of the electoral records and the opening of channels of dialogue between the parties.
Petro also pointed out that the current situation in Venezuela is complex and that all the actors are “trapped,” and considered that the previous handling of the election process was a mistake, since it forced a society to dispute political power without freedom.
“In the face of this situation, you have an opposition that feels like it is the government but is not in the government, and a government that did not release the minutes and cannot legitimize the elections, but is in the government,” he commented.
According to him, this lack of freedom affected both the opposition, since the main candidate, María Corina Machado, did not participate, and the Venezuelan government, which faces economic sanctions that limit the freedom of voting.
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