CARACAS.- Colombian President Gustavo Petro spoke out on the Venezuelan presidential elections, which will be held this Sunday, July 28, and stressed his government’s commitment to respect “whatever the will” of the Venezuelan people.
With 48 hours to go before the presidential elections in the South American country, the Colombian president wrote in a short message on his X account that Venezuela “makes democratic decisions” and urged people to recognize the Venezuelan people’s ability to define their political path.
Petro, who has taken critical positions against the Maduro regime since the beginning of the electoral process, reaffirmed the sovereign right of Venezuelans to express themselves at the polls under democratic and transparent elections.
In July, the Colombian president proposed a “national agreement” in Venezuela, which would provide guarantees, in which the guarantees for all candidates and the results of July 28 would be respected.
However, Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo, who was said to be attending the election as an observer, announced that he would not travel to Venezuela, because they did not have the necessary time to put together an adequate team with the required technical characteristics.
For its part, the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it will not be able to attend due to scheduling issues.
Lately, the Colombian president has joined the growing concern of the international community about the political and social situation in Venezuela, which has led more than eight million Venezuelans to seek better opportunities in other countries around the world.
Concern in the region
Countries in the region that have been known as allies of Maduro, such as Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Bolivia, have expressed their concern regarding the irregularities, repression and persecution of the democratic alternative, taken by Chavismo around the presidential contest, in order to perpetuate itself in power.
In April, the New Granada politician described the disqualification of opposition leader María Corina Machado imposed by the regime, which prevented her from running for president of Venezuela, as an “anti-democratic coup.”
Former Colombian President Iván Duque sent a message to the Venezuelan opposition and invited citizens to participate and exercise their right to vote on July 28, to raise their voices in the face of 25 years of destruction by the Chavista leadership.
“On July 28, after two decades of democratic resistance, the Venezuelan people finally have the opportunity to raise their voice, to make clear to the entire world their desire for a better future, full of opportunities and justice,” the former president said in a video posted on social media.
Duque, who has been a harsh critic of the official model initially implemented by the late Hugo Chávez, and continued by Nicolás Maduro, said that “in the last two decades the Venezuelan people have lived through a tragedy” and any attempt at fraud in the elections must be sanctioned by the international community.
“We know that on the 28th there are only two options: the overwhelming victory of the people or the flagrant theft of the elections by Nicolás Maduro. That is why we call on the international community to intervene immediately, if Maduro intends to steal the elections, with the maximum level of sanctions and with the immediate prosecution of the criminal against humanity before the international courts,” he emphasized.
In these elections, which will define the course of the country for the next six years, 10 candidates are running for president, including Edmundo González Urrutia of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), who seeks to end 25 years of Chavismo, and the official Nicolás Maduro, who is seeking re-election for a third time.
According to polls, the favorite to occupy the Miraflores seat is the majority opposition candidate Edmundo González with a wide lead over the candidate of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Nicolás Maduro.
@Lydr05
Source: With information from La Patilla, El Tiempo and Infobae
