CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Following Venezuela’s disputed presidential election nine days ago, officials from Brazil, Colombia and Mexico have been in constant contact with representatives of both President Nicolás Maduro and opposition candidate Edmundo González to seek a solution to the country’s political crisis.
A senior Mexican official who has been part of the discussions told The Associated Press that the three nations, whose current leftist presidents are Maduro allies, are holding conversations with both sides, but declined to characterize that as formal mediation.
The group of three countries is recommending that the government and opposition follow Venezuelan laws and appear before the appropriate institutions to appeal any part of the process, the official said. That recommendation, however, is a tall ask for the opposition, because Venezuela’s ruling party controls every aspect of government, including the justice system, and uses it to defeat and repress real and perceived opponents
The official, who spoke Monday on the condition on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter, declined to identify the Venezuelan government and opposition representatives who have participated in the discussions. The source also would not say whether González’s team has signaled its willingness to formally appeal the results of the July 28 election.
Unlike many other nations who have either recognized Maduro or González as the winner, the governments of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico have taken a more neutral stance by neither rejecting nor applauding what Venezuela’s electoral authorities declared to be a victory for Maduro at the ballot box.
In a joint statement issued last week, the trio called on Venezuela’s electoral body to release tens of thousands of vote tally sheets, which are considered the ultimate proof of results.
“The fundamental principle of popular sovereignty must be respected through impartial verification of the results,” President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, President Gustavo Petro of Colombia and President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of Mexico said in their statement.
The Mexican official told AP that the presidents have not ruled out an in-person meeting with Maduro.
Millions of Venezuelans headed to the polls on July 28 — some even held vigil at their voting center — for the highly anticipated election that by all accounts was the toughest electoral challenge Maduro and his ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela had faced in decades. The National Electoral Council then proclaimed Maduro the winner without releasing any detailed figures as it had done so in the past.
Roughly 12 hours after results were announced, thousands of Venezuelans across the country took to the streets to protest the results and were met with brutal government repression.
The electoral council says that Maduro earned 6.4 million votes while González, who represented the Unitary Platform opposition coalition, garnered 5.3 million. But González and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado stunned Venezuelans when they revealed they had obtained more than 80% of the vote tally sheets issued by every electronic voting machine after polls closed, and asserted that Maduro had been defeated by a 2-to-1 margin.
Following the revelations, Maduro asked Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice to conduct an audit of the presidential election, but his move immediately drew criticism from foreign observers who said the court is too close to the government to produce an independent review.
The court’s justices are proposed by federal officials and ratified by the National Assembly, which is dominated by Maduro sympathizers.
The tribunal summoned all 10 candidates who appeared on the ballot for a hearing Friday. Only González did not show up. The court on Monday ordered him to appear at another hearing Wednesday.
Also on Monday, Venezuela’s top prosecutor announced a criminal investigation against González and Machado over a statement they issued calling on the armed forces to abandon their support for Maduro and to stop repressing demonstrators.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab said that both of them “falsely announced a winner of the presidential election other than the one proclaimed by the National Electoral Council, the only body qualified to do so,” and that they openly incited “police and military officials to disobey the laws.”
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Castillo reported from Mexico City
