“Commitment to peace leads us to promote dialogue in Venezuela,” says Brazilian president

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Monday that “the commitment to peace” is the reason that has led him, along with his counterparts from Colombia and Mexico, “to promote dialogue and understanding” in Venezuela following the controversial presidential elections a week ago.

“Respect for popular sovereignty is what drives us to defend transparency. Commitment to peace is what leads us to promote dialogue and understanding between the government and the opposition,” he said from La Moneda Palace (headquarters of the Chilean government) after meeting with his Chilean counterpart, Gabriel Boric.

This is Lula da Silva’s first public statement on Venezuela after the governments of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia stepped up their diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis and asked the Venezuelan electoral authorities in a statement last Thursday to “expeditiously” publish the data “broken down by voting table.”

“Controversies over the electoral process must be resolved through institutional channels. The fundamental principle of popular sovereignty must be respected through impartial verification of the results,” said Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, three countries led by progressive leaders.

On Friday, the CNE offered a second and final report in which it confirmed Maduro’s victory with 51.95% of the votes, while former opposition diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia obtained 43.18% of the votes, but it still has not published the minutes that prove the results.

The opposition and part of the international community suspect that the Chavista government committed fraud and there are already countries such as the United States, Argentina, Uruguay and Peru that have recognized González Urrutia as the winner.

The European Union raised the tone on Sunday, saying in a statement sent by the European Council that, “without supporting evidence,” the published results “cannot be recognized,” although it did not proclaim the victory of the former opposition diplomat.

Boric, the first international leader to demand transparency in the publication of the results, is in the same line of thought. He avoided referring to the Venezuelan crisis during his public statement alongside Lula da Silva at La Moneda.

Following Maduro’s inauguration, protests erupted in Caracas and other cities on Monday, with 11 civilians killed, according to human rights NGOs, and more than 2,000 arrested.

Santiago de Chile / EFE