The Brazilian government’s advisor for international affairs, Celso Amorim, said this Thursday (28) that President Lula’s speech about Venezuela expresses the Brazilian government’s “concern” about helping the electoral process in the neighboring country. The head of the Brazilian Executive had said that the impossibility of opposition candidate Corina Yoris being able to run was “serious”.
In an interview with the newspaper The globeAmorim stated that Lula’s statement is part of the Brazilian government’s concern with “complex” elections.
The relationship between Venezuela and Brazil was marked this week by an exchange of notes in addition to Lula’s speech. The neighboring country closed on Monday (25) the period for registering candidates for the elections scheduled for July 28.
Former ultraliberal Vente Venezuela deputy María Corina Machado intended to register, but is disqualified for 15 years due to failures to declare assets while in the National Assembly. Last Friday (22) she presented professor Corina Yoris to run in the election in her place. She, however, was also unable to register, claiming that she was unable to access the National Electoral Council (CNE) registration platform.
On Tuesday (26), Itamaraty published a note stating that it was following the process with “concern” and that the impossibility of Yoris’ registration was “not compatible with the Barbados agreement”. The document signed between part of the opposition and the Venezuelan government in October 2023 defined, among other things, that the elections should be held in the second half of the year and that disqualifications would be reviewed by the country’s courts. María Corina had her disqualification confirmed by the Supreme Court of Justice in January 2024.
The Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded and said that the document published by the Brazilian government “appeared to have been written by the United States Department of State”.
On Thursday (28), Lula spoke about the topic. Alongside the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, she stated that Yoris’ inability to register was “serious” and was seen “with surprise by the Brazilian government”.
Still in the newspaper interview The globeAmorim stated that the exchange of notes between the foreign ministries of the two countries and Lula’s speech do not compromise the relationship between Brazil and Venezuela.
For the electoral dispute, Venezuela has 13 registered candidates. This is the 2nd highest number of registered candidates in an election in the country since 1993. In the last 31 years, only the 2006 election had more competitors. That year, voters could choose between 14 candidates.
The candidate registration period in Venezuela also exposed a rift in the country’s opposition. The governor of Zulia, Manuel Rosales, signed up at the last minute and will run in the election. He even met with María Corina last week to discuss strategies for the registration process and made his party, Um Novo Tempo (UNT), available to the disqualified candidate.
After the registration period, she said that she would not support Rosales and reinforced that Yoris was her candidate. The governor of Zulia stated that he would give up his candidacy if the opposition found a name that could apply. Rosales is an experienced name in Venezuelan politics and already contested the elections in 2006, when he lost to then-president Hugo Chávez.
Editing: Rodrigo Durão Coelho
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
