São Paulo, Brazil – In a joint statement released Thursday, the presidents of Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico called for the Venezuelan government to release voting records for Sunday’s disputed presidential elections.
Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Colombia’s Gustavo Petro and Mexico’s Andrés Manuel López Obrador have historically kept warm relations with Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro. In the statement, the leaders fell short of disputing Madoro’s victory, but did not acknowledge it either.
On Sunday, the Maduro-allied National Electoral Council (CNE), announced that Maduro had won elections with 51.2% with 44.2% going to the opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia. The opposition immediately contested the elections, saying that the electoral authorities failed to deliver all physical voting tabulations to the opposition’s civilian electoral observers, and that of the tabulations that were in their possession, they calculated that González Urrutia won with over 70% of votes.
In their statement, the leaders expressed solidarity with the Venezuelan people, “who turned out massively at the polls on July 28 to decide their future,” but also stated they are closely monitoring the vote-counting process.
“We call on the electoral authorities of Venezuela to proceed expeditiously and publicly release the disaggregated data by polling station,” the statement read.
The presidents emphasized that disputes over the electoral process should be solved through institutional channels and that the fundamental principle of popular sovereignty should be respected through impartial verification of the results.
“In this context, we call on political and social actors to exercise maximum caution and restraint in their demonstrations and public events, to avoid an escalation of violent incidents.”
Lula, Petro, and López Obrador said that maintaining social peace and protecting human lives should be the top priorities at this point. Venezuela has been experiencing street protests and police repression since the results were announced.
The opposition claims there was fraud and that González was the real winner. The deadlock has caused divisions in South America, with some presidents supporting Maduro and others pointing to fraud, along with significant concern in the international community.
For this reason, the presidents of Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico spoke on this Thursday and decided to release the joint statement. The text concludes with the leaders offering their support for dialogue efforts and the pursuit of agreements that benefit the Venezuelan people.
Read the full joint statement:
“The governments of Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico congratulate and express solidarity with the Venezuelan people, who turned out massively at the polls on July 28 to decide their own future.
We are closely monitoring the vote-counting process and call on the electoral authorities of Venezuela to proceed expeditiously and publicly release the disaggregated data by polling station.
Disputes over the electoral process should be resolved through institutional channels. The fundamental principle of popular sovereignty should be respected through impartial verification of the results.
In this context, we call on political and social actors to exercise maximum caution and restraint in their demonstrations and public events, to avoid an escalation of violent incidents.
Maintaining social peace and protecting human lives should be the top priorities at this moment.
Let this be an opportunity to once again express our absolute respect for the sovereignty of the will of the Venezuelan people. We reiterate our willingness to support efforts for dialogue and the pursuit of agreements that benefit the Venezuelan people.”
