Biden hopes Lula’s proposal will be accepted / Photo: EFE
US President Joe Biden said Thursday that he supports holding new elections in Venezuela following the July 28 vote, where the ruling party declared the re-election of President Nicolás Maduro, with results questioned inside and outside the country.
Biden briefly appeared before reporters before boarding the presidential helicopter Marine One.
When a journalist asked him if he supported calling for new elections in Venezuela, he simply replied: “Yes, I do,” without offering further details.
On Thursday, during an interview on Radio T, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva suggested two possible solutions to the post-election crisis in Venezuela: the formation of a coalition government that includes members of Chavismo and the opposition or the holding of new elections.
Reaction
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.
Proclamation
Maduro’s victory in the July 28 elections was declared by the National Electoral Council (CNE) without publishing the voting records, and the Biden administration considers that the winner was opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, according to the records obtained by the majority opposition bloc.
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 20:24:22
