Lula Warns Maduro Brazil’s Ties With Venezuela Are Worsening

(Bloomberg) -- Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Nicolas Maduro owes the world an explanation about what happened in Venezuela’s election, and that the ongoing dispute over the outcome has caused relations between Brasilia and Caracas to deteriorate.

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The leftist Lula, who has long enjoyed close ties to Venezuela’s socialist governments, reiterated Brazil’s refusal to acknowledge Maduro as the winner and its calls for the release of full ballot records during a Thursday radio interview.

“I still don’t recognize his election, and he knows that he owes Brazilian society and the world an explanation,” Lula said. “The data has to be presented in a reliable way.”

“Brazil-Venezuela relations have deteriorated because the political situation in Venezuela has deteriorated,” he added.

Lula on Wednesday spoke by phone with Colombia’s Gustavo Petro, another leftist who has maintained close ties with Venezuela. Petro has similarly called for the release of the ballot records, and the pair of leaders have been attempting to broker a solution to the dispute.

Lula said that he did not want to act “passionately or hastily,” given that Maduro’s current term does not end until January.

But he suggested that one potential solution is new elections in which all candidates can participate, while a multiparty electoral committee and international observers oversee it. A coalition government that includes the opposition is another possibility, he said.

“If Maduro has any sense, he could call people, hold new elections, establish criteria for the participation of all the candidates, create an electoral committee with all parties and observers from all over the world,” he said in the interview.

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