Lula scared by Maduro’s statements

BRASILIA: Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Monday he had been “scared” by Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro’s warning of a “bloodbath” if he loses elections on Sunday.

“I was scared by Maduro’s statements that if he loses the election there will be a bloodbath,” Lula told international news agencies in Brasilia. Maduro will be seeking a third six-year term at the helm of economically devastated Venezuela, amid accusations of foul play and opposition persecution.

On Saturday, Maduro had warned the vote’s outcome would decide the country’s future: “whether it becomes a peaceful Venezuela or a convulsed, violent and conflict-ridden Venezuela. Peace or war.”

And days earlier, he said Venezuela risks a “bloodbath” if he loses. Institutions loyal to 61-year-old Maduro -- who has held office since taking over from Hugo Chavez in 2013 -- have barred wildly popular opposition leader Maria Corina Machado from the race on what she says are trumped-up corruption charges.

Others, too, were disqualified or have pulled out. Amid such constraints, the opposition Democratic Unitary Platform picked 74-year-old Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, a little-known ex-diplomat, as a last-minute figurehead candidate. Gonzalez Urrutia is far ahead in polls, but observers fear Maduro will never allow him to win.