Pressure or complicity? Lula da Silva said that the electoral process in Venezuela was "normal," but asked the Chavista regime to publish the minutes of the elections

In a questioned move, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a historic ally of chavismo, affirmed that the electoral process in Venezuela was "normal and calm." This despite the repression, protests in the last 48 hours, allegations of fraud by the opposition and the rejection of the results by the international community. In addition to what he said, he also made an uncomfortable request of Nicolás Maduro's regime and the National Electoral Council controlled by Chavism: publish the results.

Lula, who kept silent for more than two days after the CNE announced a fraudulent result in favor of Maduro, said underhandedly that today the numbers reported by chavismo are not proven and that Venezuelan authorities must hand over the minutes.

"The people who disagree have the right to express themselves and to prove why they disagree, just as the government has the right to prove that it is right," said the Brazilian president, who was expected to make a statement due to the geopolitical importance Brazil represents for Venezuela.

Subsequently, Lula urged the Venezuelan National Electoral Council to "present the minutes" so that, if there were doubts, the opposition could appeal to the Venezuelan justice system, also taken over by chavismo.

Later, in a joint statement with the United States, the Brazilian government confirmed the position of the president after a call with President Joe Biden. Both asked the Venezuelan regime to show the minutes and prove the CNE's announcement.

According to the communiqué, both countries "agreed on the need for the Venezuelan electoral authorities to immediately disclose complete, transparent and detailed voting data at the polling station level."

On the other side: The opposition has the minutes and they are public

While Lula urges Maduro's regime to prove its questioned "triumph," the opposition, in an unexpected move for its own party as well as outsiders, announced that it has in its possession 80% of the electoral records and is publishing them in a robust website so that Venezuelans can enter, validate and verify last Sunday's election results.

These minutes, as announced by María Corina Machado, leader of the Venezuelan opposition, and the opposition candidate Edmundo González, who won by a landslide last Sunday; may already be in the possession of several world leaders who are certifying the evidence shown by the opposition of their overwhelming victory.

Those minutes show, in effect, a massive and overwhelming result in favor of Edmundo Gonzalez, who, in the absence of totalizing 100% of the votes, already obtained 7,086,966 votes, which represents 67% of the total votes.

Maduro, on the other hand, only obtained 3,206,164 votes, 30 %.

The opposition has even shared detailed results of the 23 states and the Capital District of Venezuela. In addition, independent testimonies on social media have attested that the tally sheets are correct and valid.

The opposition effort for transparency, with a website that was set up in little more than 24 hours, is an important step for the international community to recognize the victory of Gonzalez and for the opposition itself to apply internal pressure on Maduro, who today, from the presidential palace from Miraflores, threatened to imprison Machado and Gonzalez.

This effort contrasts with the Venezuelan National Electoral Council, which, at this hour, still has not uploaded the official results to its web page and in almost two days has not even been able to release the complete election results.