The President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador He admonished his Brazilian counterpart, Lula Da Silvaand the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinkenfor expressing an opinion on the Venezuelan electiondoes not consider it prudent.
On Thursday, when questioned about Lula’s recommendation to his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolás Maduro, to call new elections in his country, López Obrador commented that:
“We will see what the (Venezuelan electoral) court decides. I do not think it would be prudent for us, from outside, a foreign government, whoever it may be, to give our opinion on something that should be decided by the Venezuelans.”
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The above, because on Thursday morning it was reported that the President of Brazil said in a radio interview that the Venezuelan president, who has already declared himself re-elected, that:
“I could try to appeal to the people of Venezuela, perhaps even call for an electoral programme, establish criteria for the participation of all candidates and let observers from around the world go and watch the elections.”
And to reinforce his statement, López Obrador read numeral 9 of Article 89 of the Constitution, which establishes the principles under which Mexico’s foreign policy must be governed, such as the self-determination of peoples and non-intervention; then he focused his attacks on the US government.
This is because, according to his statement, a couple of days after the election (August 1) in which Maduro Moros and the representative of the Opposition, Edmundo González, competed, the head of the State Department, Antony Blinken, declared that:
“Given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States, and more importantly to the Venezuelan people, that Edmundo González Urrutia won the majority of the votes in the July 28 presidential election.”
In response to this, the head of the Mexican Executive questioned Blinken:
“And with all due respect, who is this man to say who won and who lost the election? Politics is practical judgement. And then the OAS, the same day or the next day, also as if they were electoral authorities in Venezuela.”
He therefore insisted that his government’s position would be to wait for the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela to rule on the process (it would be this Friday, according to him) and then, if there is any disagreement, it will be presented to the corresponding authorities, but that Mexico “will act with prudence.”
López Obrador’s comments come less than 24 hours before Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena will speak with Antony Blinken about the case of Venezuela.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the foreign minister spoke with Blinken, to whom she confirmed Mexico’s position of waiting for the results of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Bolivarian Republic and of having transparency in the results.
Meanwhile, the government’s statement indicates: “Secretary Blinken expressed to Foreign Minister Bárcena his support for the positions of Mexico, Brazil and Colombia.”
This comes seven days after the governments of Mexico, Brazil and Colombia released their second joint statement on the situation in Venezuela, in which they asked for transparency in the proceedings:
“They consider it essential that the National Electoral Council of Venezuela (CNE) present the results of the presidential elections of July 28, 2024, broken down by voting table (…) the CNE is the body that is responsible, by legal mandate, for the transparent dissemination of the electoral results.”
The text published on the X account of the Foreign Ministry (@SRE_mx) reaffirms the convenience of “allowing impartial verification of the results, respecting the fundamental principle of popular sovereignty.”
In their Second Joint Communiqué, they stressed that they would continue with high-level talks, and reiterated what they stated in their first document: their willingness to support efforts for dialogue and “search for understanding” in order to contribute to political stability and democracy in that nation.
The text released by Foreign Affairs states that the meeting between the foreign ministers took place virtually yesterday, August 7, and that it focused “on the elections in Venezuela.”
On the morning of that day, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called on the contenders in the July 25 process to avoid self-proclamations of victory.
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This Thursday, 11 days before the vote and the current Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, and his opponent Edmundo González Urrutia, declared themselves winners of the process, López Obrador urged during his morning press conference:
“No one can name themselves or proclaim themselves victorious if there is no electoral body that decides, because I imagine that those who participated knew that there was a council and a court and they had to abide by a ruling.”
At the same time, he maintained his position of asking that all the minutes of the day be made transparent and that the legally established procedure be continued, but with a nuance:
“So, a review of the minutes must be carried out, that is the responsibility of the Electoral Court and to know for certain who won (…) first, a winner must be declared by the Court, as a last resort, and it must be justified in detail, with minutes and if there is disagreement, action must be taken through legal and peaceful means.”
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2024-08-18 01:57:30