US and Brazil condemn Venezuela’s arrest warrant for opposition leader

Brazil’s top foreign policy adviser criticized Caracas's arrest warrant for opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez as "very concerning" and noted a clear "authoritarian escalation" in Venezuela, News.Az reports citing Reuters.

Other countries around the Americas, including the United States, Argentina and Peru, also condemned the move.

The Venezuelan attorney general’s office said on Monday that a court had issued an arrest warrant for Gonzalez, the opposition’s erstwhile presidential candidate, accusing him of conspiracy and other crimes amid a dispute over whether he or President Nicolas Maduro won the July 28 election.

Brazil’s Celso Amorim said in an interview with Reuters that if Venezuelan authorities were to go through with Gonzalez’s arrest, “it would be a political arrest, and we do not accept (there should be) political prisoners.”

“There is no denying that there is an authoritarian escalation in Venezuela. We do not feel openness to dialogue, there is a very strong reaction to any comment,” Amorim said, while adding that Brazil still held out hope for a solution to the crisis.

News.Az