A man waves a Venezuelan flag as demonstrators clash with police during a protest against the government of President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, July 29, 2024, the day after Venezuela’s presidential election . Protests erupted in parts of Caracas on Monday against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s claim to have won re-election, disputed by the opposition and questioned by the international community, AFP journalists observed.
Yuri Cortes | AFP | Getty Images
U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday appeared to back new elections in Venezuela, after Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also floated the idea, despite claims from both Venezuela’s ruling party and its opposition. won the election on July 28, but both rejected it.
Biden spoke to reporters after Lula suggested Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro could call a new contest involving international observers as a potential solution to the country’s political crisis. The United States rejected Madura’s claims of victory.
When asked if he supported Venezuela holding new elections, Biden said “I do.”
A spokesman for the National Security Council later said Biden “was talking about the absurdity of Maduro and his representatives not coming clean about the July 28 election,” but stopped short of outright refuting Biden’s remarks.
The spokesman added that it was “very clear” that opposition candidate Edmundo González won the election.
A U.S. official said in background remarks that the U.S. position has not changed and that the vast majority of countries in the region require Maduro to announce and recognize the election results.
The new election proposal is one of several proposed by the international community but has so far not received support from Maduro or his opposition coalition rivals.
The United States in April tightened oil sanctions on OPEC members over what it said was Maduro’s failure to abide by a deal on election conditions, while other Western countries have shown no sign they will take swift, tough action to deal with many Issues condemned by the state.
Maduro rejected Biden and Lula’s comments, saying the United States and Brazil had an electoral contest but Venezuela was not involved.
“I am absolutely opposed to the United States trying to become the electoral authority in Venezuela,” Maduro said on state television. “Biden expressed interventionist views on Venezuela’s internal problems… and half an hour later they suppressed it.”
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado ruled out Biden and Lula’s proposals.
“The elections have happened,” Machado told Argentinian and Chilean reporters in a video call late Thursday. “Maduro must be made aware that the cost of his stay increases over time.”
Officials from Venezuela’s ruling party have also previously ruled out the possibility of holding new elections.
Lula has said that a “coalition government” could be another possible solution for Venezuela.
“If (Maduro) had common sense, he could tell it to the people and maybe convene a nonpartisan electoral commission to hold new elections,” Lula said in a radio interview.
Brazil’s president said he still does not recognize Maduro as the winner of the vote and that his government must release the yet-to-be-released vote count, echoing calls from around the world over the past two weeks.
“Maduro knows he owes Brazil and the world an explanation,” Lula said.
Lula and Colombian President Gustavo Petro spoke by phone on Wednesday as part of efforts to find a solution to Venezuela’s crisis, but gave no details of the conversation.
In a post on Thursday, Petro suggested that Venezuela’s ruling party and opposition could temporarily swap power, echoing an arrangement used in Colombia for 16 years in the 20th century.
“The political solution in Venezuela depends on Nicolás Maduro, who carries the peace and prosperity of the country,” Petro said. He added in a separate article that a political agreement was the best option and it was up to Venezuelans .
Petro, who will reopen trade and diplomatic relations with Venezuela after taking office in 2022, also called for the lifting of all sanctions on Venezuela.
Panamanian President José Raul Mulino told a weekly news conference on Thursday that Latin American leaders will discuss the crisis this weekend, when many will travel to the Dominican Republic to meet the country’s new president of the inauguration ceremony.
Speaking before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Celso Amorim, Lula’s senior foreign policy adviser, said Brazil has not formally proposed holding new elections in Venezuela.
Conservative senators attending the hearing criticized Lula’s government for being weak in favor of Maduro and asked what Brazil was doing for the jailed opposition leader.
Amorim said Brazil offered to send a plane to pick up six opposition members seeking asylum at the Argentinian embassy, which now flies the Brazilian flag since Venezuela severed ties with Argentina.
Venezuela’s electoral authorities announced that Maduro won 51% of the vote, but did not disclose the complete vote count.
Counts posted by the opposition on a public website showed Gonzalez receiving 67% of the vote.
