At a joint press conference in Brasilia at the close of a three-day state visit Macron, Lula described as “serious” the exclusion of the candidate designated by opposition leader María Corina Machado to face Maduro on July 28.
“There is no legal or political explanation” why he couldn’t do it, said the leftist, who said he “surprised” by the news. Macron, For his part, he “very firmly condemned the exclusion of a serious and credible candidate” and urged to “restore” the possibility of participating in the elections.
Venezuela closed the candidate registration period on Monday without the main opposition coalition, Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), managing to register its standard-bearer Corina Yoris. The 80-year-old academic could not access the registration system, which was blocked, according to the PUD.
After verifying this impossibility, the main Venezuelan opposition alliance managed to register another provisional candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia. While Maduro, who hopes to remain in power for 18 years, registered his candidacy on Monday.
The region’s criticism of the electoral process in Venezuela
The chancelleries of Brazil and Colombia they stated this week “concern” about the development of the Venezuelan electoral process. Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Lula are seen as close to the Maduro government. Venezuela reacted by calling them “interferencers.”
Lula said that Brazil will try to “observe” these elections. “I want them to be celebrated like we do in Brazil: with everyone’s participation,” he said.
Macron was received on Thursday with all the pomp at the Planalto palace by Lula and his wife Janja. The couple waited for him on the access ramp to the modernist building, while the Frenchman walked along a red carpet, flanked by soldiers from the corps. “Dragons of Independence.”
Both leaders signed 20 agreements in areas such as the environment, artificial intelligence, financial cooperation, among others. The free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union was also on the agenda, and they treated it “with all honesty,” according to Macron.
On Wednesday, before an audience of businessmen in Sao Paulo, The French president criticized the agreement, which he described as “very bad” for both countries, and proposed making “a new one.” The pact, which has been negotiated since 1999, plans to eliminate most of the tariffs between the two zones and create a free trade space for more than 700 million consumers. But after a political consensus reached in 2019, the opposition of several of the 27 EU countries, including France, blocks its final adoption.
Lula, on the other hand, is betting on his success. Asked about it on Thursday, both said they were “calm” with their arguments and minimized the differences. “Brazil is not negotiating with France. Mercosur is negotiating with the European Union,” Lula said.
Source: Ambito
