Venezuela: Colombia and Brazil in favor of a new presidential election, not the opposition or Maduro

Brazil and Colombia have called for support. Thursday à a new presidential election in Venezuela in order to emerge from the crisis born from the contested re-election at the end of July of Nicolas Maduro, a proposal immediately rejected ;eacute;e by the opposition which accusedé the president of "playing with the lives of millions" of Venezuelans by blocking a "political transition".

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado immediately rejected these calls. “Proposing not to take into account what happened on July 28 (voting date) is for me a lack of respect for Venezuelans (…), popular sovereignty is respected,” she said. told Chilean and Argentinian media.

The election “took place and Venezuelan society expressed itself in very unfavorable conditions. There was fraud and we still managed to win,” she added.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on August 3, 2024 in Caracas © AFP – Juan BARRETO

The same story from Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the opposition candidate, who reaffirmed on X that he had won “by an overwhelming majority” the election.

In the evening, in a video, he launched “an appeal to Nicolas Maduro: respect the will of the Venezuelan people, you are playing with the lives of millions of compatriots!”

“The country's economy is deteriorating more and more with each passing day without a political solution, and this tragedy is your responsibility (…) it is imperative to respect the will of the people and allow a transition to a government capable of restoring confidence and opening the doors to economic development,” he said.

M. Maduro, who accuses the two leaders, who have been living in hiding for the past two weeks, of wanting to carry out a coup d'état, did not directly refer to a new election, but insisted: “The conflicts in Venezuela (…) are resolved between Venezuelans, with their institutions, with their law, with their Constitution.”

The president, who appealed to the Supreme Court, considered to be subservient to the government, to “validate” his victory, also did not want to react to the statements coming from abroad: “We do not practice microphone diplomacy. Each president knows, each state, each country knows what it must do with its internal affairs.”

– “Absurd position” –

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, August 14, 2024 in Brasilia © AFP – EVARISTO SA

The National Electoral Council (CNE) ratified President Maduro's victory with 52% of the vote in early August, without providing the exact count or polling station reports, claiming to have been the victim of computer hacking.

According to the opposition, which made public the reports obtained through its poll workers, its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won the election with 67% of the vote, a result rejected by Mr. Maduro.

The announcement of the latter's re-election to a third term sparked spontaneous demonstrations, with a toll of 25 dead, 192 injured and 2,400 arrests, according to official sources.

Deeming the opposition's victory “very clear”, the White House corrected the situation after Joe Biden's apparent support for new elections.

The American president “mentioned the absurd position of (President) Maduro” who is “not honest” about the result of the presidential election, assured a White House spokesperson.

M. Biden had answered “I am” to the question: “Are you in favor of new elections in Venezuela?”, during a short exchange with the press.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva mentioned a new election on a local radio station on Thursday: if Mr. Maduro “has common sense, he could try to make an appeal to the people of Venezuela, maybe even call and schedule” another election.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro in Bogota on July 9, 2024 © AFP – LUIS ACOSTA

His Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro called in a message posted on X for a new “free” election, suggesting among a list of proposals, the “lifting of all economic sanctions” that hit Venezuela.

For its part, Parliament voted on Thursday the law regulating NGOs and associations, the first in a series that the opposition considers liberticidal.

Among the points of the text, the obligation for NGOs to notify their “funding” and “donors, national or foreign”, or the prohibition of “receiving financial contributions intended for organizations with political aims”.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on August 9, 2024 in Caracas © AFP – Federico PARRA

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) had considered that the law “arbitrarily restricted the right of association, freedom of expression”.

Two other texts on “incitement to fascism and hatred” and on regulation of networks social must be examined by the unicameral parliament, where the government has 256 of the 277 seats after the opposition boycotted the 2020 legislative elections.

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