EU urges transparent elections to resolve Venezuelan crisis – 07/02/2019

With a call to "Free, transparent and credible presidential elections in accordance with the Venezuelan Constitution" The meeting of the International Contact Group on Venezuela ended yesterday in Montevideo, with the participation of 14 European and American countries. The said elections must count "with all the necessary guarantees", according to the final declaration read by the Uruguayan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rodolfo Nin Novoa, and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union, Federica Mogherini.

However, Uruguay, Mexico and the Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries have been reluctant. A few hours before the meeting, they presented the "Montevideo Mechanism", which offers a dialogue without conditions. For example, without demanding that the Nicolás Maduro regime fix the date of the elections, without asking him to change the electoral court of Venezuela or release political prisoners. These demands are part of the conditions propagated by the interim president of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, who has been recognized since the end of January by the United States, most Latin American countries and almost all member countries of the United States. l & # 39; EU.

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The Uruguayan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rodolfo Nin Novoa, explained in explaining the plans of Mexico and Uruguay: "What must be agreed between the parties are the conditions and they are the ones who must to hear, we dialogue without conditions ". But eventually, Uruguay signed the document as a host country.

For some international badysts, the differences with the EU were clear from the beginning of the meeting, which lasted five hours and took place in the executive tower of Montevideo. There were the Foreign Ministers of Mexico, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Uruguay, Sweden, Spain and Italy as well as senior officials from the Foreign Ministries of Germany, France, the Netherlands, Portugal and England, among others.

At the opening of the meeting, Federica Mogherini said that before the Venezuelan crisis, "it is essential to avoid internal violence and external interventions", with the aim of 39 to reach free elections. Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell has not concealed his dissatisfaction with the proposed dialogue promoted by Mexico and Uruguay. "This group has another goal, is to help and encourage presidential elections," Borrell said.

What is certain is that the ICG prevailed at the meeting of Montevideo for a period of 90 days, starting yesterday. Once this period has elapsed, if there are no concrete results, it will be dissolved. "Although it is badumed that there are different political positions, all the countries of the ICG share the same goal," says the statement released yesterday. The text insists that it will seek to "achieve a common international approach to support a peaceful, political, democratic resolution and Venezuelans themselves to the crisis". The ICG agreed to send a technical mission to Venezuela and meet again in March to continue working on a process that would achieve a "Venezuelan solution" to the crisis. In this regard, the Governor in Council pledged to continue working to "put in place the necessary safeguards for a credible electoral process as soon as possible". And it will also work to "enable the urgent delivery of aid, in accordance with the international principles of humanitarian aid".

In the opening speech of the Governor-in-Council held in Montevideo, Uruguay's President Tabaré Vázquez described the "serenity of the parties involved and the caution of the international community". Latin Americans and the EU have agreed to avoid a military intervention in Venezuela that could destabilize South America, as Mogherini pointed out.

The disagreement is that Europeans do not seek mediation between the parties, but a political process that ends the crisis. And the "Montevideo Mechanism" does not call for early elections. It would begin to work by calling for "immediate dialogue", thus creating the conditions for dialogue. This would follow a "negotiation" in search of a common ground. In this regard, Federica Mogherini spoke on behalf of the European Union, acknowledging that "even if it is not inconsistent, the Montevideo mechanism has different compositions and objectives than those of the international contact group ".

Mexico and Bolivia have not signed the final ICG statement. Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard told reporters that "by constitutional mandate, Mexico can not support political interference in other countries." For his part, faced with the reservations expressed by Guaidó about a possible dialogue in recent hours, the Uruguayan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rodolfo Nin Novoa, baderted that "there is no There is no negotiation possible without dialogue and even the elections must be agreed. " Therefore, Nin Novoa said that "refusing to talk is blocking any possibility of understanding".

Source: AP agencies, EFE, AFP