Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has ruled out talks with the country’s opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. He said this after participating in the hearing of the Supreme Court of Venezuela last Friday. He requested the court to approve his re-election in the disputed presidential election.
Maduro said these things in an interview given to AFP about Machado’s proposal for talks. Machado offered him a negotiated transfer of power.
A political crisis has been going on in the Latin American country since the election authorities of Venezuela declared Maduro the winner in the elections held on July 28. Maduro’s election has been questioned both inside and outside the country.
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) said Maduro was elected with 52 percent of the vote. However, CNE is yet to release the full results of the election. The opposition has already released the results of 82 percent of the votes counted. It showed that their candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won easily. However, the Venezuelan government says that the results published by the opposition are false.
The Supreme Court of Venezuela is considered to be Maduroghese. On Friday, the Supreme Court summoned all the presidential candidates, including opposition candidate Gonzalez Urrutia. But Urrutia refused to appear in court.
After the court hearing ended on Friday, Maduro ruled out talks with opposition leader Machado. “The only person in this country who needs to talk to Machado is the public prosecutor,” he said.
Maduro thinks Machado committed a crime by questioning the election results. Machado should surrender to court and answer for the crime.
Opposition leader Machado is barred from running against Maduro. He is currently in hiding due to security concerns.
Machado sought cooperation from the international community. In a voice note sent to AFP, he said the opposition was determined to hold talks.
“It’s going to be a complex, delicate process of transformation, where we’re going to unite the entire nation,” said Machado, 56.
Human rights organizations say at least 24 people have been killed in protests and violence over the release of election results. More than two thousand have been arrested.
He added, ‘Maduro has “absolutely, completely lost legitimacy” and all the people of Venezuela and the world know that Edmundo Gonzalez has won outright.’
Maduro’s close ally and lawmaker Diosdado Cabello rejected Machado’s offer.
He told reporters at the Supreme Court that Machado was in no condition to discuss anything.
