With Venezuela’s political crisis, government warns Brazilians to avoid gatherings in neighboring country | Politics

With the political crisis in Venezuela, the Brazilian government issued an alert on Monday (29) for Brazilians in the neighboring country to avoid crowds.

The government also asked Brazilian citizens to pay attention to the information on the page of the Brazilian Embassy in Caracas.

“In light of the recent events in Venezuela, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommends that Brazilians residing, transiting or having a planned trip in the country follow the page and social media of the Brazilian Embassy in Caracas, stay informed of the situation and security in the areas where they are and avoid crowds,” said a statement from the Brazilian government.

Venezuela is experiencing an electoral impasse. The National Electoral Council (CNE), the Venezuelan electoral body linked to that country’s government, announced that the current president, Nicolás Maduro, was re-elected with 51.2% of the votes in the elections held on Sunday (28).

But the opposition claims the election was rigged and that Edmundo was the real winner. Maduro has been in power since 2013. Since then, he has won two elections, which the opposition and international organizations have accused of failing to respect transparency and democratic principles.

The failure to disclose the minutes was one of the main points of distrust regarding the election results. The minutes are bulletins recording the votes in each ballot box and were not properly submitted by the Venezuelan authorities.

Brazil has already asked Venezuela to provide the minutes of the meeting.

Protests took place in the streets of the capital, Caracas, on Monday evening. The opposition called for new measures in the coming days.

Protesters chanted “transfer of power” and burned posters bearing Maduro’s face. In the northernmost state of Falcon, demonstrators tore down a statue honoring Hugo Chavez, Nicolás Maduro’s predecessor.

Before 8 p.m., former deputy Maria Corina Machado and candidate Edmundo Gonzalez spoke to supporters and the press. Maria Corina declared that there was a scam.

“We got 73 percent of the minutes. That was a huge difference across all states and across all sectors,” Corina said.

He called on citizens to challenge the official results presented by Nicolás Maduro. Edmundo González thanked the international community for its support for Venezuela. He said the opposition had won in places it had never won before and that Venezuela wanted peace and recognition of the will of its people. He concluded by saying that the authorities must respect the ballot boxes.