Lula and Petro’s unusual criticism of the Venezuelan government for not allowing registration of an opposition presidential candidate

These criticisms are coming not from the usual opponents, but from the allies themselves. Fire friend.

The presidents of Colombia and Brazil, who until now were among the main supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on the international scene, criticized the fact that Corina Yorris was not allowed to register as a candidate of the Venezuelan opposition in the next presidential elections. Has been given. Year. 28th July.

Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Colombia’s Gustavo Petro questioned the impossibility of Yorris to register his candidacy with the Venezuelan National Electoral Council, effectively preventing him from challenging Maduro for the presidency. Were roaming at one of their places. Moments of lowest popularity.

Corina Yoris, an 80-year-old university professor, was chosen by opposition leader María Corina Machado as her replacement in the presidential race.

The decision came after it was confirmed that Venezuelan authorities were not lifting the disqualification imposed on Machado and she described it as arbitrary and irregular.

But Yoris said that he could not register in the digital system of the National Electoral Council And, after the deadline, he has been eliminated from the race for Miraflores Palace. “My rights are being violated,” he protested.

There are many countries that have censored what happened with the boycott of the two opposition leaders. But this time what has drawn attention is that the governments of Colombia and Brazil, ruled by leftist leaders, who till now had good relations with Maduro, have joined the voice of criticism.

Maduro responded to both by referring to the alleged assassination attempt he said he had suffered this week, when, as he declared without presenting evidence at a rally with his followers in Caracas, Machado Many members of the party were arrested while they were preparing. Make an attempt on his life..

“They torture me for making attempts on my life” and “cowardly leftists are not able to condemn attempts at a coup (coup), against revolution, against peace. They remain silent by complicity,” he Said.

In a statement released last Tuesday, after Yorris reported that it was not possible for him to register his candidacy, the Colombian Foreign Ministry cited “the difficulties faced by the majority sector of the opposition” when trying to nominate their candidates. Expressed his “concern” about. ,

Bogotá expressed the need for a “free, fair and competitive presidential election process”. and urged the government and opposition to respect the agreement reached between the two parties in Barbados to facilitate political normalization of Venezuela, in the negotiations of which Colombia acted as an observer.

The first reaction from Caracas came from the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, who accused Colombia of taking “a wrong step” and carrying out “an act of gross interference in matters that concern only Venezuelans”, as he said, “K.K. The reason pushed was “the need to please the United States State Department”.

Later, Maduro made televised comments about “cowardly leftists”, to which President Gustavo Petro himself responded.

“There is no cowardice left, the possibility that by deepening democracy, the world will be changed”,

Petro also mentioned Maduro’s predecessor, the late Hugo Chávez. “The magic of Chávez was to propose democracy and change to the world. Today’s revolution is: changing the world, strengthening democracy.”

From Brasília, in a joint appearance with French President Emmanuel Macron, Lula announced that there was no official explanation as to why Yoris was unable to register his candidacy.

Lula described the fact that Yoris had failed to register as “serious”. “There is no legal or political explanation for preventing an opponent from becoming a candidate,” Lula said.

Like the Colombian government, the Brazilian government also showed its “concern” about the boycott of Yoris and demanded compliance with the Barbados agreement.

Maduro’s government has been rejected by a large portion of Western countries for its controversial record on human rights and why they consider the current president an illegitimate ruler since a 2018 election in which he was declared the winner amid numerous complaints of irregularities. it was done.

But Lula has been a friend of Chavista Venezuela since the time of Hugo Chávez And at a time of maximum pressure on Maduro due to United States sanctions, his return to power in Brazil was welcomed like a ball of oxygen in Miraflores.

The same happened in Colombia when leftist Gustavo Petro became president in 2022, succeeding Ivan Duque. Duque was one of the most active critics of Maduro and his government. Petro, on the other hand, proposed re-establishing relations with Venezuela and reopening the border between the two countries as soon as he came to power.

The departures of Jair Bolsonaro and Duque in Brazil and Colombia, respectively, meant the de facto end of the activity of the so-called Lima Group, a group of Latin American countries that had supported Maduro’s policy of sanctions and isolation against Venezuela. From the United States by former President Donald Trump.

Brazil and Colombia, where Lula and Petro are already president, supported the negotiation process in Barbados.In which the government and the opposition agreed to hold presidential elections in Venezuela in 2024, after which Joe Biden’s government agreed to lift some US sanctions.

But one of the keys to that agreement was the removal of disqualifications that burdened key opposition leaders, including María Corina Machado, who was overwhelmingly chosen as the presidential candidate in opposition-held primaries in October 2023 Was. ,

But since then, Machado has not only confirmed his ineligibility, but the person nominated to replace him was also unable to apply due to the impossibility of registering him.

The government denies that it has failed to comply with the Barbados Agreement because a mechanism was created to review disqualifications and, in the case of Machado and other opposition leaders, these were approved by the Supreme Court.

On the other hand, the opposition says that the decision regarding Machado violated the most basic principles of due process.

In any case, as the Brazilian President pointed out, the Venezuelan authorities have not provided an explanation as to why Corina Yorris was not allowed to register.

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