MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula and Biden discuss Venezuelan elections and put pressure on Maduro

Lula and Biden agreed the minutes needed to be produced

Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Joseph Biden of the United States Tuesday discussed the Venezuelan crisis during a telephone conversation, Agencia Brasil reported. The South American leader insisted on the importance of the minutes of each voting station being released and Biden concurred.

Lula has been following the electoral process through his special envoy to Caracas Celso Amorim, who had met with incumbent President Nicolás Maduro and opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia. While opposition, some countries, and organizations such as the Organization of American States (OAS) question the process fairness and insist that the records need to be published for the votes to be audited, Maduro's regime accused them of inciting an alleged coup d'état.

Brazil's Foreign Ministry said it was awaiting the publication by the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE) of the “disaggregated data by polling station, an indispensable step for the transparency, credibility. and legitimacy of the outcome.” In addition, Itamaraty has warned Brazilians in Venezuela to stay up to date about the security situation.

In a statement on X, The White House said the United States continued to appeal to the Venezuelan electoral authorities to disclose “complete, transparent and detailed” voting results to fully reflect the will of the Venezuelan people as expressed on July 28.

In a TV interview Tuesday, Lula admitted he would recognize the results “when the victory is consecrated” but underlined that the minutes needed to be produced so that if there was any doubt the matter be left up to the judges to make a decision which the people would have to abide by.

“I am convinced that it is a normal, calm process. What is needed is that people who do not agree have the right to express themselves, have the right to prove that they do not agree. And the government has the right to prove that it is right,” Lula also pointed out.

“The two leaders shared the perspective that the outcome of the Venezuelan elections represents a critical moment for democracy in the hemisphere and committed to remain in close coordination on the issue,” it was explained in a statement.

In the conversation between the two presidents, which lasted about half an hour, Biden confirmed his presence at the G20 Summit, in November in Rio de Janeiro, and said that the partnership between Brazil and the United States should continue to grow. Both leaders were also looking forward to the meeting of democratic countries against extremism next September in New York, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

Lula congratulated Biden for the “magnanimous” decision to abandon his candidacy for reelection in the United States and wished the country's democracy success in the presidential elections in November.