Caracas.-Nicolás Maduro said that the warning that there will be a “bloodbath” in the Caribbean nation if he loses the presidential elections on July 28 was a “reflection” and —he added— that if anyone was scared by this statement, they should “have a chamomile tea.”
“I did not tell lies, I only made a reflection, whoever is scared should take a cup of chamomile because this people of Venezuela is cured of fear and knows what I am saying, and in Venezuela peace will triumph, popular power, the perfect civic-military-police union, (Javier) Milei will not come here,” said the head of the regime in a campaign event broadcast by the state channel VTV.
The Venezuelan dictator is responding to statements by his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who, without mentioning him directly, said he was frightened when Maduro said that if he loses Sunday’s elections there will be “a bloodbath,” in an attempt, according to the opposition, to provoke abstention among those who advocate removing him from power.
“I was frightened by that statement,” Lula said in an interview with foreign correspondents, in which he revealed that he had spoken twice with Maduro to warn him that “if he wants to contribute to solving Venezuela’s growth problem and the return of those who left, he has to respect the democratic process.”
Lula added that in a democracy, “the one who loses gets a bath of votes, not a bath of blood,” and that “Maduro has to learn that when you win you stay, and when you lose you leave and prepare for other elections.”
According to the Brazilian president, next Sunday’s elections will be “the only opportunity” for Venezuela to “return to normality” and for the country to reintegrate into the regional and international community.
“That is what I wish for Venezuela and for all of South America,” he added.
Maduro, who reiterated that he will remain in power, said that he has “saved” Venezuela from a “civil war” several times, without specifying when and under what circumstances.
“I said that if, denied and transmuted, the extremist right, Bolsonarists, followers of Milei and Hitler, came to political power in Venezuela, there would be a bloodbath, and I’m not saying this invented, it’s that we already lived through a bloodbath, on February 27 and 28 (1989, in reference to the well-known ‘Caracazo’),” he added.
On the other hand, Lula announced that, in addition to the two observers that the Brazilian electoral court will send, he has decided that his former foreign minister and current advisor on International Affairs, Celso Amorim, will also travel to Venezuela, and will be present at the elections on Sunday.
Lula has always advocated for elections that are in line with the Barbados Accords, with full participation of the opposition and with results recognized by all.
He also defended the large presence of international observers and expressed his “concern” about the veto of opposition candidate María Corina Machado, who was later replaced as a candidate by former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia, who polls place as the favorite for Sunday’s elections.Infobae.
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2024-07-26 08:58:10
