news 🇨🇴 Gustavo Petro won't attend Maduro's inauguration, denounces political repression

[Virgos Groove]

He also called for the release of the election tallies and for electoral transparency, as well as criticize US sanctions. The principled take.

 

Quote

Just like our friend Enrique Márquez, a prominent Venezuelan progressive, Carlos Correa, a prominent defender of human rights in Venezuela, has been arrested. This, and other events, prevent my personal attendance at the inauguration of Nicolás Maduro.

 

Colombia's request was not attended to in the sense of maximum transparency in the last elections, when such a possibility was raised in various political meeting spaces to which we were invited. In Europe, in Venezuela and in the USA.

 

The last elections in Venezuela were not free. There are no free elections under blockades.

 

The Colombian government understands that our two peoples are linked by blood, culture and history, and that closing borders, avoiding diplomatic relations and separating our peoples by force is extremely brutal. It leads to borders being controlled by mafias, and causes the hunger of millions of Colombian and Venezuelan human beings and their exodus, and the systematic violation of their human rights.

 

Any disagreement between governments should not be between our peoples.

 

Colombia will not break diplomatic relations with Venezuela, nor will it intervene in the internal affairs of that country, without invitation.

 

But we request from our own struggle for human rights in Colombia, that they be respected for all in Venezuela.

 

The progressive forces of Colombia will maintain their relationship of collaboration and friendship with all the progressive forces of Venezuela in pursuit of a great political and social dialogue that will lead to peace in the entire region and prevent violence. The freedom of the people is the objective of any progressivism.

 

We cannot recognize the elections that were not free and we hope that these can be held soon without blockades or internal intimidation.

 

Remaining in power and giving away oil seems to be the proposal of several groups of North American politics. In my personal case, I will never accept such a proposal.

 

The unity of the people, despite their internal differences, is the basis of a powerful sovereignty. Therefore, internal dialogue is the fundamental instrument of sovereignty.

 

Bolivar's struggle was always for a democratic and sovereign region. I think that this is the opposite of what is proposed by those centres of American politics.

 

We demand the release of all people detained for political reasons.

 

Edited yesterday at 03:16 PM by Virgos Groove

[YoungDreamer]

Lula's political son

[CocoPouf]

But he waited too long to confirm if he would go or not? Like creating expectations because people thought he would go. Weird situation if you ask me

[Letters From Adi]

Maduro's still in power? 

I expected him to have been replaced by a puppet at least.

[Green]

It took him long enough to realize this? 

 

He and Lula have been allies of Maduro's dictatorship but I guess they can't deny our reality anymore

[Glam]

I guess it's a small step towards the right path, to accept that Maduro stole the election. It's still very weird that he's so soft on this issue but very strong about other international issues. Is it because the chavismo is on his same political aisle? Or is it because he doesn't want to lose communication with his neighbor? I would understand if it was the latter but he seems to be so black and white about other issues that this takes away his credibility.

[Virgos Groove]

1 minute ago, Glam said:

I guess it's a small step towards the right path, to accept that Maduro stole the election. It's still very weird that he's so soft on this issue but very strong about other international issues. Is it because the chavismo is on his same political aisle? Or is it because he doesn't want to lose communication with his neighbor? I would understand if it was the latter but he seems to be so black and white about other issues that this takes away his credibility.

From what I've read, Lula and Petro have, since early last year, been trying to facilitate some sort of diplomatic solution to the crisis, as a way of avoiding the US taking a larger (read: destructive) role.

 

Brazil was one of the guarantors of the Barbados Agreement, so when Maduro expelled Brazillian observers and then refused to release the tallies, its image as a diplomacy-first country was damaged. Since then, relations have only worsened.

 

In his and Petro's case, I think the refusal to cut off comunications has less to do with ideological affinity, but with not wanting to further worsen the crisis as it already is, as well as a general mistrust of Machado (who is the actual opposition leader and a pretty extreme one at that). The fact that Maduro was threatning to invade Guyana last year and right-wingers in the US are asking for military intervention makes them fearful that, if the situation escalates to a military level, it would destabilize the whole region and become a Latin American Syria.

 

What I think they'd like is for the more moderate forces of the PSUV and of the opposition to form some sort of national unity government and schedule some actual democratic elections. But that seems unlikely, with Maduro refusing to release the tallies since he can't rig the electronic ballots, and with Biden and the EU rushing to declare Gonzalez the winner.

 

I don't think Lula or Petro necessarily like this late-stage version of Chavismo (especially Lula, who is a staunch electoral democrat), but they simply don't trust the Venezuelan opposition and don't want further US involvement in the region, so they're trying to extract some sort of diplomatic solution.

[Glam]

5 minutes ago, Virgos Groove said:

In his and Petro's case, I think the refusal to cut off comunications has less to do with ideological affinity, but with not wanting to further worsen the crisis as it already is, as well as a general mistrust of Machado (who is the actual opposition leader and a pretty extreme one at that).

Why do you think that the majority of Venezuelans support Maria Corina when Venezuela has been a historically left-leaning country? Some progressives need to drop their ideological bias against Maria Corina and understand that she is not acting alone and she is surrounded by many left-leaning parties (including the Venezuelan communist party).

 

When the Venezuelan opposition was being led by more moderate or centrist parties in the past, Maria Corina was right next to them showing her support. Obviously she voiced her concerns when she didn't agree with some of the strategies back then, but she never dared to break unity. So it's not like she is some outsider riding Milei or Trump's wave that came out of nowhere and filled a gap, no. She waited 2 decades until her time came. She has been hiding in the Spanish embassy since the election in July and has stood firmly when most people would have yielded under the pressure she's in and fled the country. Do you think Pedro Sanchez would be protecting her if he thought she was a right-wing fascist?

[AvadaKedavra]

Hope the venezuelans have a miracle and maduro is overthrown in the next years and theyre able to transition to a real socialist or centrist democracy but it needs to come from the people.  Look all the bad things happenin when there's United States intervention like Middle East. So no american aerial intervention thanks. 

As a Colombian i highly dislike petro. He and Ivan duque are the worst thing to ever happen to my country but i acknowledge how this is a good step
No one should attend maduro inauguration. Authoritarians from right and left suck. 

 

Edited 21 hours ago by AvadaKedavra

[Virgos Groove]

Just now, Glam said:

Why do you think that the majority of Venezuelans support Maria Corina when Venezuela has been a historically left-leaning country? Some progressives need to drop their ideological bias against Maria Corina and understand that she is not acting alone and she is surrounded by many left-leaning parties (including the Venezuelan communist party).

 

When the Venezuelan opposition was being led by more moderate or centrist parties in the past, Maria Corina was right next to them showing her support. Obviously she voiced her concerns when she didn't agree with some of the strategies back then, but she never dared to break unity. So it's not like she is some outsider riding Milei or Trump's wave that came out of nowhere and filled a gap, no. She waited 2 decades until her time came. She has been hiding in the Spanish embassy since the election in July and has stood firmly when most people would have yielded under the pressure she's in and fled the country. Do you think Pedro Sanchez would be protecting her if he thought she was a right-wing fascist?

Because the alternative is Maduro?

 

If the Venezuelan opposition feel like she's the one to lead them, that's their right. Personally, I think her ideas of privatizing PDVSA or asking for NATO intervention are nuts, but I'm not Venezuelan, so who gives a ****? I don't really have a horse in this race other than supporting free and fair elections and opposing sanctions.

 

(It's definitely been confirmed that Lula and Petro don't want her in the negotiations and would prefer Gonzalez tho.)

[Glam]

3 minutes ago, Virgos Groove said:

Because the alternative is Maduro?

That's not right. The opposition held a primary and she got over 90% of the votes. If people wanted a more moderate approach, they would have voted for someone else, as they have done in the past.

 

5 minutes ago, Virgos Groove said:

If the Venezuelan opposition feel like she's the one to lead them, that's their right. Personally, I think her ideas of privatizing PDVSA or asking for NATO intervention are nuts, but I'm not Venezuelan, so who gives a ****?

Shouldn't the most important thing right now be restoring democracy? Afterwards & with free and fair elections, Venezuelans can decide which way they want to go. Some of her ideas are indeed sketchy but if she has the willpower and the moral values needed to face the regime, that's what the people will support. She hasn't mentioned the NATO thing in a couple of years btw and I seriously doubt that she would do it since Maduro has made it very clear that if such an intervention were to occur, he would go after every opposition member in the country. Would Maria Corina put a target on her own friends like that? I don't think so, though I could be wrong.

[Virgos Groove]

43 minutes ago, Glam said:

Shouldn't the most important thing right now be restoring democracy? Afterwards & with free and fair elections, Venezuelans can decide which way they want to go.

I mean, yeah, absolutely. As I said, I'm rooting for free elections (and opposing sanctions). How Venezuelans choose to achieve that or who they choose to lead them is none of my business.

[Blade Runner]

Lula and Petro are f*cking cowards, and they also have blood on their hands. Someday they will pay for being friends with Maduro, Chávez (burn in hell), and the entire regime. 

 

If this situation keeps getting worse and worse, I'll pray for Colombia and Brazil to be flooded with even more Venezuelan immigrants and refugees. It's what they deserve.