Presidents of Brazil and Colombia discuss Venezuela

BrasiliaThe presidents of Brazil and Colombia discussed options for negotiating an end to the Venezuelan crisis in a telephone call on Wednesday.

“I took my time because I was on a phone call with Colombia trying to see if we can find a way out of the problem in Venezuela, to see if we can restore democratic tranquility in that country,” Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said in a speech during an event at the Planalto Palace.

The phone call between Lula and Gustavo Petro came after Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador withdrew from a three-way presidential initiative over Venezuela’s disputed election, two sources told Reuters.

Brazil and Colombia are coordinating diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis arising from the July 28 elections that both the Venezuelan government and the opposition claim to have won. Lula and Petro have asked Venezuelan authorities to make public the detailed results of the vote.

López Obrador said on Tuesday that he would not participate in talks with Brazil and Colombia for now and would wait for the review of the elections by Venezuelan electoral and judicial authorities.

“We will wait for the electoral bodies to decide, because those who went to the election knew that there are rules or electoral legislation and there are electoral bodies, there is a council, there is a court, so we will wait for the result,” he explained on Wednesday.

Lula and Petro decided to continue talks after being informed of the Mexican president’s withdrawal, said one of the Brazilian officials, who asked not to be named so he could speak freely.

The Brazilian and Colombian leaders plan to arrange a telephone conversation with their Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolás Maduro, and opposition candidate Edmundo González, the sources added.

Neither Brazil nor Colombia plan to recognize the election result or Maduro’s victory until the vote counts are fully published, the Brazilian sources said.