Colombian president urges Venezuela to release details of presidential election vote count

​​​​​​​By Laura Gamba

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - Colombia's President Gustavo Petro urged Venezuela to release the results of Sunday's presidential election to be scrutinized by the international community.

“The serious doubts surrounding the Venezuelan electoral process could lead its people to a deep, violent polarization with serious consequences of permanent division of a nation that has known how to unite many times in its history,” Petro wrote in a lengthy statement on X.

Petro asked Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to let “the elections end in peace, allowing a transparent scrutiny with vote counting, tallies and with oversight by all the political forces of his country and professional international observers.”

The Colombian president's statement comes after seven Latin American countries called for guarantees in the electoral process of their neighboring country.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and US President Joe Biden published a statement Tuesday that reiterated their demands that "complete, transparent and detailed data on the voting in the polling stations should be released immediately."

The Organization of American States and the UN have also exerted pressure on Maduro to be transparent with the results of the elections.

​​ Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo had already published a video calling for transparency in the elections. But Petro had been criticized for being the only president in the region who had not commented about the elections.

“We respectfully propose reaching an agreement between the government and the opposition that allows for maximum respect for the force that lost the elections. This agreement can be submitted as a Unilateral State Declaration to the United Nations Security Council,” said Petro.

He also asked the US to suspend sanctions against Venezuelans.

"The blockade is an inhumane measure that only brings more hunger and more violence than there already is and promotes the mass exodus of people. Emigration to the US from Latin America will decrease substantially if the blockades are lifted," he said.

Doubts about the transparency of the electoral process have generated protests in Venezuela which has been marked by repression and death with 12 dead, 84 wounded and more than 700 detained by government forces.

“Anything that happens in Venezuela will affect Colombia and vice versa. As the Venezuelan government has helped bring peace to Colombia, now this government that I represent wants to help bring peace to Venezuela,” said Petro.

Opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez, the candidate who faced Maduro in the election, spoke right after statements were made by the head of the Colombian government.

“We thank the UN, OAS, European Union, the United States, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Peru, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Uruguay, Panama, Guatemala, Dominican Republic and Paraguay for urging respect for the will of Venezuelans expressed on July 28, requiring the publication of the voting records by the CNE (National Electoral Council), as expressed in our legal system and in the statement published by the Carter Center, an international observer invited by the CNE,” he wrote on X.