The presidents of Colombia, Brazil and Mexico will meet virtually to discuss Venezuela in a new attempt to mediate the crisis that the South American country has been experiencing since the electoral body announced the disputed victory of Nicolás Maduro in the elections on July 28.
Sources from the Colombian Presidency, headed by Gustavo Petro, confirmed to EFE that a meeting will take place at the Casa de Nariño where the issue of Venezuela will be discussed and that a virtual meeting is also planned with the Brazilian Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the Mexican Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
This is a new attempt to mediate in the crisis between these three countries, which have shared positions, by asking the Venezuelan government to publish the electoral results and not recognise the victory of any candidate.
On August 22, the Supreme Court endorsed the result of the National Electoral Council (CNE) that declared President Maduro the winner, a victory that the opposition led by candidate Edmundo González and María Corina Machado refuse to recognize and that multiple Latin American countries have also questioned.
Lula
Lula, whose party was one of the first to recognize Maduro’s victory, has hardened his stance in recent days regarding the official result of the presidential elections, insisting on not recognizing the victory of Chavismo and demanding the disaggregated publication of the results certifying the victory of the Venezuelan president.
The Brazilian president said there was “no evidence” of a Maduro victory, but clarified that he did not recognize the opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, as the winner of the July 28 elections.
Colombia, for its part, remained silent in the face of the Supreme Court’s announcement, and its foreign minister, Luis Gilberto Murillo, insisted that it remains committed to building bridges to achieve “fundamental solutions in Venezuela.”
“We must be very attentive to ensure that Colombia remains a country that builds bridges and can facilitate and mediate for fundamental solutions in Venezuela, and that these are solutions that come from dialogue and political negotiation among Venezuelans themselves,” Murillo said after leaving a meeting with the Foreign Relations Advisory Committee on Tuesday.
Reaction
The day after the announcement by the Venezuelan Supreme Court, López Obrador also spoke, but he did not recognize Maduro’s victory and assured that they would wait to see the minutes.
“We are going to wait for the minutes to be released because yesterday the Electoral Tribunal of Venezuela said that President Maduro won the election and, at the same time, recommended that the minutes be released. I think there is a date for the resolution, so we are going to wait,” he said at his morning press conference.
Bogota / EFE
#Petro #meet #virtually #Lula #López #Obrador #discuss #Venezuela
2024-09-03 09:00:07
