Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia Demand Full Disclosure of Venezuela's Election Results

Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, three Latin American countries, have called on the Venezuelan government to publish accurate statistics of the presidential election results. Protests against the outcome of Venezuela's presidential election continue in the country. The Venezuelan Electoral Commission announced on Monday that Nicolás Maduro, the authoritarian leader of Venezuela, won the presidential election with 51 percent of the votes. However, opposition leaders claim that counting more than 90 percent of the votes shows that Edmundo Gonzalez, the government’s opposition candidate, received more than twice the votes of Nicolás Maduro. The presidents of Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, who have friendly relations with Nicolás Maduro, have adopted a neutral approach towards the Venezuelan presidential election. On Thursday, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico issued a joint statement urging Venezuelan electoral officials to "quickly announce the accurate results of the elections and all ballot boxes publicly." This joint statement followed discussions among Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the President of Brazil, Gustavo Petro, the President of Colombia, and Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the President of Mexico. The statement emphasized the need for an impartial confirmation of the voting results and called on all political actors in Venezuela to refrain from violence. Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia also reiterated their support for efforts and negotiations "to seek agreements that benefit the people of Venezuela." Various cities in Venezuela have recently witnessed widespread protests. Opposition leaders have reported that security forces are arresting and detaining observers who monitored the election process on Sunday. According to opposition leaders, more than a thousand people have been arrested in protests following the announcement of the election results, and at least 16 people have been killed. Maduro's government officials claim he defeated Gonzalez by a margin of 7 percent but have refrained from releasing detailed voting data.