US supports efforts by Mexico, Brazil and Colombia to achieve an “orderly transition” in Venezuela

The United States Government gave its explicit support for mediation led by Brazil, Colombia and Mexico to try to overcome the political crisis in Venezuela following the elections of July 28, 2024.

The acting head of the State Department for Latin America, Mark Wells said in a call with reporters that the U.S. is “in favor of dialogue” of the aforementioned diplomatic initiative and assured that they maintain a “very close” coordination with these three governments.

The diplomat insisted on asking Chavismo and the opposition to negotiate a “democratic transition” and affirmed that Washington is “focused on working with both parties” to achieve this. However, when asked if the US is holding talks with officials of Nicolás Maduro’s government, Wells declined to comment.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Maduro’s victory in the elections without providing evidence, while the opposition presented thousands of voting records on a website that would give an overwhelming victory to its standard-bearer, Edmundo González Urrutia.

On August 1, the United States recognized González Urrutia’s electoral victory and confirmed the documents presented by the opposition. “The real result of the elections is clear and the world can see it, Edmundo obtained the majority of the votes,” said Wells.

For his part, the Colombian Foreign Minister, Luis Gilberto Murillo, declared that he hopes that in the coming weeks The group of three mediating countries can “communicate the progress” it has made.

In a joint statement, Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Gustavo Petro of Colombia, and Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico urged the CNE to make the voting records public and to verify the results.

On August 5, the CNE delivered the vote counting records to the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), which will review the result by which Maduro was declared the winner.

The electoral body has not published the minutes certifying Maduro’s victoryas required by law, while the Democratic Unitary Platform, the main opposition coalition, released “81%” of these documents, which show – according to them – that González Urrutia won by a wide margin, sparking protests in the country that have left at least 24 dead according to NGO reports and more than 2,000 people arrested.

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