Brazil says it is concerned about lack of transparency in Venezuela’s presidential election

The special envoy of the Lula da Silva government to Venezuela, Celso Amorim, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and current adviser to the President for International Affairs, said this Monday that Brazil feels uncomfortable with the lack of transparency of the data that formed the basis of the supposed victory and repeat of the elections of the President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro. The victory of Maduro, who was re-elected with 51.2% of the vote, according to the National Electoral Council CNE, which he controls, is questioned by the international community and several Latin American countries have already rejected it, but the Lula government is still waiting for the data to take its position.

“I’m still trying to figure it out. The problem that worries me is the lack of transparency. Brazil continues to wait for more data so that it can position itself on a more solid basis. I’m not necessarily questioning what happened (Maduro’s reelection), but the Venezuelan government has failed to provide a protocol declaring victory and still hasn’t done so,” said Celso Amorim, who arrived in Venezuela hours before the local government ordered the borders to close and prevented the entry of several international observers.

Celso Amorim and Lula da Silva have excellent political and personal relations with Nicolás Maduro and are very careful not to hurt feelings towards the president who has ruled the neighboring country with an iron fist for 11 years. But Brazil also cannot ignore the countless allegations of endless irregularities in the electoral process, and it would not like to be isolated on the continent at a time when a significant number of countries in the region have already officially rejected Nicolás Maduro’s victory, or at least demanded the publication of the election protocols that would prove his victory over his opponent Edmundo González Urrutia, who claimed to have been elected with 70% of the vote.