A dozen countries and Canada questioned the legitimacy of the Venezuelan president’s soon-to-be second term
LIMA - A dozen Latin American governments and Canada have delivered a blistering rebuke to Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, questioning the legitimacy of his soon-to-begin second term and urging him to hand over power as the only path to restoring democracy in his crisis-wracked country.
The sharp criticism came at a meeting on Friday of foreign ministers from countries including Argentina, Brazil and Colombia, all of which have been weighing how to confront the increasingly authoritarian Maduro while absorbing a growing exodus of Venezuelans fleeing economic chaos.
In a statement, the Lima Group urged Maduro to refrain from taking the presidential oath next Thursday and instead cede power to the opposition-controlled congress until new, fairer elections can be held.
“Only through the full restoration, as soon as possible, of democracy and a respect for human rights is it possible to resolve the country’s political, economic, social and humanitarian crisis,” the diplomats said.
Even before announcing the resolution, the group’s meeting with the participation of US secretary of state Mike Pompeo drew a sharp response from Venezuelan foreign minister Jorge Arreaza. He accused the coalition of taking orders directly from Donald Trump.
“What a display of humiliating subordination!” Arreaza said on Twitter.
A once-wealthy oil nation, Venezuela is in the throes of crisis, marked by hyperinflation that makes it difficult for people to afford scarce food and medicine. An estimated 2.3 million Venezuelans have migrated from the country since 2015, according to the UN.
The Lima Group was formed more than a year ago by mostly conservative-run regional governments seeking to defuse a crisis in Venezuela that is increasingly threatening regional stability.
While the group previously denounced Maduro as a “dictator” and urged dialogue, its hard-edged resolution calling on Maduro to step down suggests its members are losing patience.
But beyond the heated rhetoric, the anti-Maduro coalition showed signs of fraying along ideological lines.
Regional powerbroker Mexico was one of the early and biggest promoters of the Lima Group. But it sent a lower-level representative to Friday’s meeting who refused to sign the resolution, reflecting the policy of non-intervention favored by that nation’s new leftist president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Maduro traveled to López Obrador’s inauguration, meeting privately with the Mexican leader.
The US is not formally a member of the Lima Group but has been a vocal supporter and Pompeo participated in the meeting via video conference.
Pompeo this month made a visit to Latin America during which he attended the inauguration of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and then stopped in Colombia to meet with President Iván Duque. Both Bolsonaro and Duque have declared a united stance against Maduro’s government aligned with the US.
Geoff Ramsey, a Venezuela researcher at the Washington Office on Latin America, questioned Pompeo’s participation in Friday’s meeting.
He said the Lima Group was created to showcase concerns of Latin American nations about Venezuela’s crisis and Pompeo’s involvement furthers a perception that the US has been quietly directing its moves.
“I’m worried that this paints the region into a corner, with no clear path forward,” Ramsey said of the resolution. “The truth is that Maduro isn’t just going to hand over the keys.”
Photo: Chile’s foreign minister Roberto Ampuero, Canada’s parlimentary secretary Andrew Leslie and Brazil’s foreign minister Ernesto Araujo attend a meeting of the Lima Group in Lima, Peru on 4 January.
