BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said today that he believes the Venezuelan government has authoritarian inclinations, but added he would not label President Nicolas Maduro’s administration a dictatorship.
“I don’t think it’s a dictatorship,” Lula said in a radio interview. “It is a government with an authoritarian bias, but not a dictatorship like many we know around the world.”
Lula today reiterated Brazil’s call for Venezuela to release voting tallies from the widely contestedelections that reinstated leader Nicolas Maduro in late July. Both Maduro and the opposition have claimed victory.