Lula da Silva emphasizes the importance of international observers in Venezuela's elections

(CNN Spanish) — With Venezuela's presidential election less than two months away, international monitoring of these elections is one of the issues marking the path to July 28.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva held a call with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás Maduro on Wednesday. Lula da Silva stressed the “importance of broad participation of the international audience” in the dialogue. The Brazilian government said.

The Brazilian president also highlighted the need to comply with the Barbados Agreement signed last October between Venezuela's government and opposition to hold democratically guaranteed elections.

The call between the leaders comes a week after Venezuela canceled an invitation for a European Union (EU) monitoring mission. Elvis Amoroso, president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), announced the decision by reading a statement in which he charged, “It is immoral to allow European participation knowing its new colonial practices and interventions against Venezuela. Happy presence in the electoral process so important to democracy.”

Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly, made a request to cancel this observation after announcing the lifting of sanctions imposed by the UE on Amoroso and three officials, while maintaining actions against 50 people associated with the Maduro government. Rodríguez called EU leaders “rogue, bastards, traitors, illegitimate and illegitimate”.

The European Union, for its part, disseminated its reaction to the Caracas decision through its social networks. “The European Union deeply regrets the unilateral decision by Venezuela's National Electoral Council to withdraw its invitation to observe the July 28 presidential election,” it said. Text posted on X's account of the European Union in Venezuela.

Opposition leader and winner of Venezuela's opposition primaries, María Corina Machado, made the remarks during a brief meeting with journalists on Tuesday. Machado said, “The National Electoral Council, including the European Union, has already made calls, and really for us it's a sign of fear, they recognize that they don't want to pay attention, I think it's a big mistake. I think it needs to be reconsidered.”

Venezuela's Democratic Unity Platform (PUD), the coalition that unites the majority of opposition parties and supports the candidacy of Edmundo González Urrutia, rejected the position of electoral officials and pointed out in a statement. We know it will happen next July 28 and it is a huge victory that the unity candidate represents.

Brazil and Colombia recently announced they would not send election monitoring missions to Venezuela. The CNE also extended invitations to the Carter Center, the United Nations (UN), the African Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).