São Paulo, Brazil — Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Monday that he was “shocked” by recent comments from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro about a possible “bloodbath” or “civil war” if he loses Venezuela’s election on July 28.
According to Lula, Maduro needs to learn that when an election is lost, the result must be respected. “I was shocked by Maduro’s statement saying that if he loses the elections, there will be a bloodbath. Whoever loses an election takes a bath in votes. Maduro needs to learn that when you win, you stay; when you lose, you leave,” Lula said.
Maduro said at a rally on July 17 that Venezuela could face a “bloodbath” and a “civil war” if he is not re-elected. The statement was made during a public event in Parroquia de la Vega, a popular district in the west of Caracas.
Lula confirmed that Brazil will send observers and the presidential advisor for international affairs, Celso Amorim, to monitor the elections in Venezuela. Lula also said that he spoke twice with Maduro recently and told him that the only chance for Venezuela to return to normality is to have an electoral process respected by the whole world.
“If Maduro wants to contribute to the return of growth in Venezuela, the return of people who left Venezuela, and establishing a state of economic growth, he must respect the democratic process,” added Brazil’s president.
This was the first time Lula publicly criticized Maduro. The two maintain a close relationship and are personal friends, which draws criticism from Lula’s opposition and supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who has always been one of Maduro’s biggest critics.
Upon being elected for a third term as Brazil’s president in October 2022, Lula also faced election denialism from supporters of Bolsonaro, and the former right-wing president is currently being investigated for allegedly plotting a coup to overthrow the government after he lost the election.
When Lula took office in January 2023, he resumed relations with Venezuela, which had been completely severed during Bolsonaro’s term. Maduro even came to Brazil in May 2023, on his first visit to the country since 2015, and met Lula in the capital Brasília.
Lula described the meeting as a “historic moment,” and both leaders discussed the resumption of cooperation in areas such as energy, the environment, agriculture, and industry. In recent months, the Brazilian president has advocated for fair and transparent elections in Venezuela but has not directly criticized Maduro.
“I told Maduro: ensure that the election is democratic because it is important for Venezuela to return to the world,” Lula said in March 2024. “Let Venezuela elect the president it wants. I will not fight with Venezuela,” the president said over the weekend.
