Lula da Silva

Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, the three Latin American powers governed by the left that have launched a mediation effort in the post-electoral crisis in Venezuela, have insisted this Thursday in a joint statement that they consider it “fundamental” that the National Electoral Council (CNE), controlled by Chavismo, present the results of the presidential elections of July 28, 2024 “broken down by voting table.”

The CNE, which declared Maduro the winner on election night without providing credible evidence, has yet to publish the voting records 11 days after the election, amid growing allegations of fraud. The opposition, for its part, published almost all the voting records after their witnesses collected them at the polling stations. These records are scanned and uploaded to a website, with verifiable data and votes table by table. According to this breakdown, opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia had a clear victory with 67% of the votes.

The governments of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Gustavo Petro, who have avoided recognizing Maduro’s supposed victory without burning bridges with Chavismo, also distanced themselves in the statement from the initiative of Hugo Chávez’s heir to take the dispute to other bodies. “In taking note of the process initiated before the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela (TSJ) regarding the electoral process,” the three countries, which have maintained close communication, “start from the premise that the CNE is the body that is legally responsible for the transparent disclosure of the electoral results.” The foreign ministries also “reaffirm the convenience of allowing impartial verification of the results, respecting the fundamental principle of popular sovereignty.”

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado sent a message to López Obrador on Thursday, who is often reluctant to intervene in other countries’ political affairs. She asked him to understand “the enormous responsibility” that Mexico has in the face of the conflict and to take advantage of the communication channel that he maintains with the Venezuelan government. Asked about the issue, the Mexican president assured that he did not want “interference” and said that the electoral authorities, controlled by Maduro, are the ones who must declare a winner. “Let it be justified in detail with minutes, and if there is disagreement, let us continue to act through legal and peaceful means.” Ultimately, Mexico could be a mediator “as long as there is democratic will, there is no interventionism or desire for imposition” and “the will of the Venezuelans is respected,” said the president.

“If Maduro presents his records, what he will do is justify his fraud. We have demonstrated our victory,” Machado said the day before in another interview with Venezuelan journalists, in which he assured that he does not rule out that the initiative proposed by Mexico, Brazil and Colombia “could succeed in establishing terms for a clear, firm and effective negotiation.” He then acknowledged that “unquestionably, they have a channel of communication that others do not have with the regime and I believe that they have effectively maintained a prudent position to be able to maintain this dialogue.”

The three Latin American presidents, with whom Maduro still maintains diplomatic forms, are trying to overcome this crisis with a negotiated solution that is as painless as possible and that facilitates a winner in accordance with the democratic electoral processes and Venezuelan legality. Their respective foreign ministers, Mauro Vieira, Alicia Bárcena and Luis Gilberto Murillo, had met virtually the day before to coordinate the initiative, which this week had the explicit support of the United States to achieve a “transition” in Venezuela. “The vast majority of countries look very favorably on the diplomatic effort that Presidents Petro, Lula and Andrés Manuel López Obrador are making, there is a ray of hope there,” said Colombian Murillo this Thursday, who has insistently stressed the need for prudence and confidentiality to advance the negotiations.

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The joint statement also reiterates “the call to the country’s political and social actors to exercise maximum caution and moderation in demonstrations and public events and to the country’s security forces to guarantee the full exercise of this democratic right within the limits of the law.” The Maduro government’s response to the protests following the elections has already amounted to more than 1,229 arrests and 24 murders. Machado has rightly called on the international community on Thursday to be more firm in rejecting the “unprecedented” persecution and repression that her supporters are experiencing.

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