During a ministerial meeting, President Lula raised the possibility of calling new elections in Venezuela as a solution to the ongoing crisis in the neighboring country.

The dictator Nicolás Maduro was proclaimed re-elected shortly after the July 28 election, but the result is widely contested by the opposition and regional leaders.

A group of countries, including Brazil, has been pressuring the regime to release the minutes that would prove the fairness of the election.

According to accounts from those present at the meeting, Lula stated that the election results could not be accepted without proof that they were clean. Otherwise, the President said, Maduro would have to call for a new election or be forever labeled a dictator.