Venezuela crisis #2

Does Brazil hurt Venezuela's sovereignty by asking for election minutes? Analysts differ, by Ana Lívia Esteves for SputnikBrazil. 08.09.2024.

Brazil, Mexico and Colombia insist on the request of the Venezuelan electoral minutes, demanding their disclosure by the National Electoral Council, and not by the Supreme Court of Justice. By making the recognition of elections conditional on the disclosure of data from each of the country's polling stations, is Brazil interfering in Venezuela's internal politics?

On Thursday (, the governments of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico issued a new joint statement on the elections in Venezuela, requesting that the electoral minutes by polling station of the country be released by the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela.

The statement reinforces the support of the three countries for "the sovereignty and will of the Venezuelan people" and their determination to "hold high-level talks" so that solutions to the current situation emerge from Venezuela.

After a ministerial meeting at the Planalto Palace, the ministers of the Civil House, Rui Costa, and Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira, reaffirmed Brazil's desire to act as a mediator on the Venezuelan issue, reported Poder 360.

"Brazil wants to be part of the solution, not the problem. And part of the solution, at the moment, is to ask the authorities responsible for the election to present the voting minutes by section, detailed, so that the whole world can look and confirm the result of the election, or – if it has problems – seek a solution to it," said Mauro Vieira during the ministerial meeting.

The Brazilian position has emphasized the release of" electoral minutes", which are technically the disaggregated data of the Venezuelan elections by polling station in the country, as fundamental to define the electoral results in the country. Thus, Brazil has not yet recognized the victory of Nicolás Maduro announced by the CNE, nor the self-proclaimed victory of the opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia.

"If you have a problem, how Are you going to solve it? Present the minutes. If there is doubt between the opposition and the situation about the minutes, the Opposition files an appeal and will wait for the court to run the process. There will be a decision that we have to accept," President Lula said in an interview with Globonews (Brazilian far-right outlet).

However, the presentation of the minutes does not seem to be as simple a process as the Brazilian authorities imply. Although the day of the elections in Venezuela went without major hiccups, the problems began as soon as the electronic polls were closed. According to the CNE, there was a problem in transmitting the data regarding the votes from the polling centers to the central one. The council, the independent constitutional body that organises elections in the country, said it had been the target of a cyber attack.

On Monday (5), the President of the CNE, Elvis Amoroso, reported having sent the minutes to the Superior Court of Justice (TSJ), which confirmed the delivery of the material. The court, the highest body of the Venezuelan judiciary, said it will clear the data and investigate accusations of fraud.

According to the president of the agency, Caryslia Rodrigues, the process could take up to 15 days.

The communiqué of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia issued on Thursday (, however, makes it explicit that they want to access the CNE data, and not the court's assessment. The countries indicate that "in taking note of the action initiated before the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) of Venezuela on the electoral process, they start from the premise that the CNE is the body to which corresponds, by legal mandate, the transparent disclosure of election results".

For the reporter and director of Comunicasur and master of the Latin American Integration Programme PROLAM of the University of São Paulo (USP), Vanessa Martina Silva, who was in Caracas during the electoral process, the Brazilian request configures interference in Venezuela's internal affairs.
"Imagine that a country like Mexico, or France, or Russia, after the elections and Lula's victory in Brazil – which was a tight victory – demanded access [not to the TSE data], but to each of the Brazilian polls, and only then recognize Lula's victory. They demanded access to the source code of the polls – as, by the way, Bolsonarism requested. That would be absurd, an interference. The Brazilian process is legitimized by Brazilians. And so it should be for all sovereign countries, " Silva told Sputnik Brasil.

The expert regrets that Brazil did not send observers from the Brazilian Superior Electoral Court to Venezuela for clumsy reasons and recalls that the Venezuelan opposition has legal methods to challenge the results of the elections, through the request for objection.

The opposition has not called for any table to be objected. It preferred to simply allege fraud and subsequently self-proclaimed Edmundo Gonzalez [... as president, " Silva said.

"By making this request for the minutes, Brazil contributes to internal political uncertainty and throws water into the mill of the Venezuelan right, which is using President Lula's statements to make political proselytizing."

On the other hand, the Brazilian mediating position was celebrated by the researcher of the nucleus of Latin American Studies of the University of Brasilia (UnB), Robson Valdez. For him, the posture "is in accordance with the tradition of Brazilian foreign policy of defending peace, non-intervention and preserving channels of dialogue in situations such as those experienced by Venezuela".

"This is a very sensitive situation. Despite all the allegations of human rights violations by the Maduro government that have swelled in a context that has involved severe economic sanctions imposed by the United States, coup attempts with U.S. support, and mismanagement of the country's economy, the Venezuelan electoral system has been enjoying credibility with the international community," Valdez said.

For him, "the role of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico is not to strictly solicit anything, but to build, in a purposeful way, the opportunity for the government of Venezuela to present in a clear and transparent way the official result of the elections.

Regiane Nitsch Bressan, an expert on Latin America and professor of international relations at the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp), points out that it is up to Brazil to draft proposals, but not to resolve Venezuela's internal political disagreements.

"Brazil will not and does not have to solve Venezuela's domestic problems. Countries will press for Democracy, at the limit they will apply sanctions, but states are independent, they are sovereign, and we cannot invade a country so that it is democratic, otherwise that is precisely what the United States claimed in 2003 with the war in Iraq," Bressani said.

The pressures exerted by the media and international leaders for Lula to adopt a "more emphatic position" on Venezuela, according to Bressani, should be removed by Brazil, which "has the prerogative of non-interference."

Déjà-vu of self-proclamation

On July 29, the main opposition party Plataforma Unitaria began violent street protests – called guarimbas, which gradually lost strength. This Monday (5), the group published a letter in which candidate Edmundo González Urrutia proclaims himself "elected president" of the country. The candidate also incites a military uprising in the country by calling on the Armed Forces to "disobey the orders" of the civilian government.

For the analysts heard by Sputnik Brasil, González's self-proclamation makes it difficult, but not unfeasible, for Brazil to mediate the electoral imbroglio.

"The self-proclamation is another complicating element that seeks to mobilize the opposition along with its demand for recognition as winners of the electoral dispute," said UnB researcher Valdez. "I do not believe that this self-proclamation interferes in the mediation process of Brazil and other countries, because the focus of all mediation is the verification of electoral results by the electoral authorities of Venezuela."

For USP master Vanessa Martina Silva, Brazil should maintain its traditional position and not recognize González's self-proclamation and focus its stance on dialogue with Venezuelan Justice. The Unifesp professor recalls that, like Guaidó, the self-proclamation has no concrete effects, since it does not change the support base of the Maduro government.

"It is in Brazil's interest that the continent enjoy an environment of peace and stability," Valdez argued. "Brazil is the country with the largest economy and largest territorial extension on the continent, so it has borders with most of its neighbors, important markets and destinations for Brazilian direct investments. Thus, the increased instability in Venezuela brings profound negative impacts in the fields of economy and security."
On July 28, general elections were held in Venezuela, after international negotiations established agreement in opposition and local government. On August 2, The National Electoral Council (CNE) announced the re-election of the governing Nicolás Maduro with 51.97% of the votes, against 43.18% of the opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia. On the occasion, the president of the CNE, Elvis Amoroso, reiterated his denunciation of "massive computer attacks" made against the Venezuelan electoral system, which would have delayed the final accounting of the results.

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https://noticiabrasil.net.br/20240809/brasil-fere-soberania-da-venezuela-ao-pedir-atas-eleitorais-analistas-divergem--35968409.html

"Venezuela lives (with) a very unpleasant regime," says Lula, 08.16.2024.

The President again demanded the minutes of the vote that prove the re-election of Maduro or the victory of the opposition: "no one has proof".

 President Lula (PT - Workers' Party) spoke again on Friday (16) about the political situation in Venezuela, where the electoral authority declared President Nicolás Maduro re-elected, while the opposition claims to have won the election.

For now, the Brazilian government has not recognized the election result and is demanding the Venezuelan administration's voting records.

When asked by Gaucho Radio about the note issued by the PT, in which the party recognizes the re-election of Maduro, Lula said he did not agree with the content of the statement. "I don't agree with the note, I don't think the same. But I am not the director of PT. Venezuela's problem will be solved by Venezuela."

"There was an election, the opposition says it won, Maduro says he won. What am I asking to be able to recognize? I want to know if the numbers are real. Where's the ata? Where is the ballot box? Here in Brazil, if the citizen enters the internet he will know how many votes Lula had in each city of Rio Grande do Sul. I said to President Maduro: ‘Maduro, for you it is essential for the world to understand that there was a clean and democratic election.’ He said he would. I sent people there on Election Day. Everything was normal. The opposition soon says ‘I won', Maduro soon says’ I won', but no one has proof. The opposition has to show the minutes to show the result. I can only recognize if it was democratic if they show the proof," he added.

When asked whether Venezuela lives under a democracy, the president called Maduro's government "a very unpleasant regime." "Venezuela lives a very unpleasant regime. I don't think it's dictatorship. It's different. It is a government with an authoritarian bias, but it is not a dictatorship as we know so many dictatorships in this world". Lula, on the other hand, extolled the importance of Venezuela to Brazil. "What I think is that Venezuela is an interesting country for Brazil, it is a country that has kilometers of border with Brazil, a country with which Brazil even had a$ 5 billion trade surplus, it is a country that can be a great partner for Brazil in building a political force in the world."

Regarding the sending of the special advisor of the Presidency for International Affairs, former Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, to Venezuela as an observer of the elections, Lula said that "when Celso Amorim was going to travel to Venezuela, I was informed that they had asked Celso Amorim not to go. I told them that if Celso Amorim could not go, I would tell the Press that Venezuela was preventing Celso Amorim. Then they allowed".

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https://www.brasil247.com/americalatina/a-venezuela-vive-um-regime-muito-desagradavel-afirma-lula