US President Joe Biden misinterpreted a question about holding new elections in Venezuela on Thursday, creating hours of confusion after he implied he supported a repeat vote.
The confusion arose when Biden appeared briefly before reporters before boarding the presidential helicopter Marine One. When a reporter asked him if he supported calling for new elections in Venezuela, he simply replied: “Yes, I do,” without offering further details.
However, hours later, a White House spokesman clarified that the president was actually referring to the “absurdity” of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s failure to publish the voting records for the July 28 elections, where the government declared Maduro’s reelection with results questioned inside and outside the country.
The spokesman reiterated that Washington believes that the winner of the elections was opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, according to the minutes obtained by the majority opposition bloc, and again called for respect for the “will” of the Venezuelan people so that there is a “transition back to democratic norms.”
The debate over holding new elections in Venezuela comes after Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva suggested two possible solutions to the post-election crisis in Venezuela during an interview on Radio T on Thursday: the formation of a coalition government that includes members of Chavismo and the opposition or the holding of new elections.
Lula’s statements immediately provoked a reaction from Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who said he does not see it as “prudent” to call for new elections in Venezuela now.
Meanwhile, Colombian President Gustavo Petro suggested for Venezuela a “national front” like the one that existed in Colombia in the 20th century, in which liberals and conservatives took turns in power as a “transitory” step towards a “definitive solution” to the crisis, in an idea similar to that suggested by Lula about a coalition government.
Following the elections in Venezuela, the governments of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico began talks to find a solution to the crisis, a mediation effort that has the support of, among others, the United States.
Washington / EFE
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2024-08-16 15:50:51
