The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, described this Tuesday as “extraordinary” that the Venezuelan opposition is grouped around a single candidate and reiterated his desire that all sectors respect the result of the elections on July 28.
“It is an extraordinary thing,” because the opposition to Nicolás Maduro “met and a single candidate is presented,” Lula said at a press conference in apparent reference to Edmundo González Urrutia, of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), the main coalition. anti-chavista.
González Urrutia has received support from other sectors of the Venezuelan opposition in recent days and he was elected by the PUD after the electoral authorities rejected the registration of María Corina Machado first and then that of Corina Yoris.
The Brazilian Government, when these candidacies were vetoed, expressed its “concern” about the obstacles imposed on the registration of candidates and received an angry response from the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry.
Lula insisted this Tuesday that the elections in Venezuela, as well as in other countries, must be “transparent” and that the result of the elections must be recognized by everyone.
He stressed his desire that “whoever wins takes office, whoever loses continues in the democratic struggle,” and that “the United States withdraws the sanctions so that Venezuela can receive back all those people who left due to the economic situation,” he noted in reference to to the millions of Venezuelans who fled the country in recent years.
On the other hand, the former Colombian president and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Juan Manuel Santos, said in an exclusive interview published this Monday by the newspaper Folha from São Paulo, which If Gustavo Petro and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva want to help in the democratic transition in Venezuela “the time is now”.
According to Santos, the action of the Colombian and Brazilian leaders is crucial this week, since a reaction from the Nicolás Maduro regime is expected to the unification of the opposition against the candidacy of the former ambassador Edmundo González Urrutia and it may disable it.
In that sense, the former Colombian president said that it would be “very important” for Lula and Petro to tell Maduro: “respect this candidate.”
“(…) if Lula and Petro really want to pressure Maduro to hold free elections, now is the time,” he emphasized.
During the Interview, Santos affirmed that Maduro “is clinging to power” and believes that he will only abandon it if he achieves a “dignified exit” for him. and for the entire “regime command” otherwise “they will die there, defending themselves.”
The former Colombian president also pointed out that he does not believe that the proposal that Petro made last week, to hold a plebiscite in Venezuela to guarantee the lives and rights of those who lose the elections, is effective.
The plebiscite proposal was made known to Lula last week, during his official visit to Colombia and although the Brazilian president did not make a public statement on the matter, according to Petro, Lula supports it.
Both Petro and Lula share the position that isolating Venezuela is not the solution, but their criticism of the registration of the candidate of the largest opposition coalition, Corina Yoris, and that of María Corina Machado, prevented from holding public positions of popular election until 2036, have earned them reproaches from Chavismo.
(With information from EFE)
