The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petroannounced this Wednesday a medication between the government and the opposition of Venezuela to achieve “political peace” ahead of the presidential elections on July 28, after holding meetings with opponents and his counterpart, Nicolás Maduro, in Caracas.
”Fundamentally a Colombian intermediation, a Colombian mediation to achieve political peace in Venezuela,” Petro said in a video released by the Colombian presidency.
”I have spoken with President Maduro about a proposal that I have made to him and with sectors of the opposition, perhaps the most important at this moment, to ensure that this country can have political peace, political peace in Venezuela can be armed peace in Colombia, the peace of disarmament,” the president continued.
Petro, considered an ally of Maduro, pointed out that it is a “democratic” proposal to seek to guarantee “better well-being of the Venezuelan people.”
The president did not specify which opposition actors he met with. Sources from the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) coalition denied having participated. The same thing was said by those around María Corina Machado, a favorite in the polls but disqualified from participating in the July 28 elections.
In his meeting with Maduro, Petro advocated for “political peace in Venezuela.”
“Colombia can help a lot in political peace,” he said in the closing statement.
Last week, Petro described the sanction against Machado as an “undemocratic coup” in an unprecedented statement. His government had expressed concern after academic Corina Yoris could not register her candidacy instead of Machado for reasons that the electoral authority has not yet explained.
The opposition ended up provisionally nominating the diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia while he defines a candidacy.
Manuel Rosales, a former rival of Hugo Chávez and governor of the oil-producing state of Zulia (west), also registered with his Un Nuevo Tiempo party, which makes up the PUD.
During the nomination process that closed at midnight on March 25, 13 candidates registered, including Maduro, who aspires to a third six-year term. Although nine of them define themselves as anti-Chavistas, they are labeled by the traditional opposition as “collaborators” of the government.
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Source: Gestion
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