BOGOTA, Aug 12 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — According to Colombia’s Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo, a virtual summit bringing together Presidents Nicolás Maduro (Venezuela), Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazil), Gustavo Petro (Colombia), and Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO – Mexico) has been agreed upon to discuss the crisis triggered by the July 28 elections which both the ruling party and the opposition in Caracas claim to have won.
Lula, AMLO, and Petro reportedly agreed on the need for Maduro’s government to produce the minutes of each polling table to support the National Electoral Council’s (CNE) announcement that the incumbent had been reelected.
“Maduro is right in saying that he has been very pending and attentive to receive this call and have the conversation that will be virtual with the three presidents, who are in a diplomatic management to mediate respecting the autonomy and sovereignty of Venezuela,” Murillo said in a radio interview. “The purpose is to generate a dialogue that leads to very specific agreements,” he added. “Maduro himself has said that he is willing to advance in agreements,” he also pointed out.
“It is important that any doubts are dispelled, [and] that progress is made in having the levels of guarantees in these processes. And that implies the whole issue of completing the scrutinies and the samples of the minutes, some technical issues,” Murillo also explained.
Maduro is expected to insist on his victory despite the opposition’s allegations that Edmundo González Urrutia had won, which independent observers such as The Carter Center have confirmed.
Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico concur that the CNE is responsible for the “transparent disclosure of the results” but an “impartial verification of the results is necessary, respecting the fundamental principle of popular sovereignty.”
“We want that meeting to take place as soon as possible,” Murilo also noted. Maduro said he was waiting for the call but had “scheduling problems.”
“We had difficulties in adjusting the agenda of the three presidents and also of the foreign ministers,” Murillo also said. — NNN-MERCOPRESS
