US supports mediation by Mexico, Brazil and Colombia for a “transition” in Venezuela

Washington, Aug 6 (EFE).- The United States Government on Tuesday gave its explicit support for mediation led by Colombia, Brazil and Mexico to try to overcome the Venezuelan political crisis following the elections of July 28.

The acting head of the State Department for Latin America, Mark Wells, said in a call with reporters that The US is “in favor of dialogue” of the aforementioned diplomatic initiative and assured that they maintain a “very close” coordination with these three Governments.

The diplomat insisted on asking Chavismo and the opposition to negotiate a “democratic transition” and affirmed that the US is “focused on working with both parties” to achieve this.

However, when asked whether the U.S. was currently in talks with Maduro government officials, Wells declined to comment.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Nicolás Maduro’s victory in the elections without providing evidence, while the opposition presented thousands of voting records on a website that would give an overwhelming victory to its standard-bearer, Edmundo González Urrutia.

On August 1, the United States recognized the electoral victory of the opposition leader and confirmed the documents presented by the opposition.

“The real result of the election is clear and the world can see it, Edmundo got the majority of the votes,” Wells said.

Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo also said on Wednesday that he hopes that in the coming weeks the group of three mediating countries will be able to “communicate the progress” they have made.

In a joint statement, Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazil), Gustavo Petro (Colombia) and Andrés Manuel López Obrador (Mexico) urged the CNE to make the voting records public and to verify the results.

On Monday, the CNE delivered the vote counting records to the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), which will review the result by which Maduro was declared the winner.

The electoral body has not published the minutes certifying Maduro’s victory, as required by law, while the Democratic Unitary Platform, the main anti-Chavez coalition, released “81%” of these documents, which show, according to the opposition, that González Urrutia won by a wide margin, sparking protests in the country that have left at least 24 dead according to NGO reports and more than 2,000 arrested.

.