The Contact Group has started a meeting marked by concern over the escalation of the Venezuelan crisis

The international contact group on Venezuela began Monday in Costa Rica a meeting marked by concern for the worsening of the Venezuelan crisis and in order to prevent an escalation of violence.

"The events of recent days and the worsening of the crisis make our joint efforts more important"said at the opening of the meeting the Vice President of the European Commission and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini.

The diplomat pointed out the "Urgent need for a peaceful and political process leading to a democratic and Venezuelan solution" to the crisis that this nation is experiencing.

Mogherini said the priority of the international contact group is "avoid escalation, prevent an increase in repression and violence and preserve spaces for a political process to emerge" it solves the crisis.

He also pointed out that Humanitarian badistance to at least 7 million Venezuelans is another priority that the Contact Group seeks to promote, because the Venezuelan population is "faced with a deep deterioration of their living conditions".

The international contact group is composed of France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom, as well as Costa Rica, Uruguay, Ecuador and Bolivia.

This group was formed at the initiative of the European Union and it is considered the only mechanism that has so far had access to all parties in Venezuela.

The group aims to promote a peaceful solution to the Venezuelan crisis through new presidential elections and the distribution of humanitarian aid.

This is the third meeting held by the forum and in its inauguration, carried out at the Chancery of Costa Rica, also participated Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado, who emphasized the vision of "to facilitate the possibilities for the Venezuelan people to find a peaceful way. "

The strongest part of the meeting is scheduled for Tuesdayto be held at the headquarters of Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, in the western sector of the capital San José.

In this case, the group should publish a statement and a press conference with the main points agreed.

Representatives from all the countries that make up the forum participate in the meeting.

Among the participants is the Secretary of State for International Cooperation of SpainJuan Pablo de Laiglesia; the Chancellor of Ecuador, José Valencia; the Chancellor of Costa Rica, Manuel Ventura; the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, Augusto Santos Silva; the Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Italy, Ricardo Antonio Merlo; among others.

Venezuela is facing a political and social crisis that has been accentuated after the appointment, on January 23, of the head of the Parliament, Juan Guaidó, to the invocation of certain articles of the Venezuelan Constitution.

Guaidó has won the support of many countries of the Americas and about twenty European countries.

The Venezuelan opposition does not recognize the new six-year term sworn by Nicolás Maduro January 10, considering last May's elections as illegitimate.

Last Tuesday, Guaidó led an ephemeral military uprising with dozens of soldiers and the leader of his party, Chief Leopoldo López, who mocked the sentence of almost 14 years in prison who paid at home to join the movement.

This day, Guaidó surrounded by military and armored vehicles of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB, militarized police) called on the armed forces to ignore Maduro, as he has done almost every day since his appointment to the leadership of Parliament last January.

Maduro described this action as an attempted coup d'etat, although Guaidó declared that in Venezuela, there could be no break of the constitutional order that he was arrested.

(With information from AFP)