The main left candidate for the presidency of Peru asserted that “in Venezuela there is a dictatorship”

The leftist candidate for the presidency of Peru, Veronika mendoza, reiterated this Saturday that “In Venezuela there is a dictatorship”, one day after having criticized the role of the Lima Group and underlined that Nicolás Maduro and the opposition must be interlocutors for a democratic solution to the “political crisis”.

Mendoza, who is running for president with the left-wing bloc Together for Peru, recalled in radio statements RPP that he denounced “on several occasions” a democratic rupture in Venezuela.

“This is something that we have held for a long time. As the situation worsened, We all identify that there is a dictatorship, a serious political, economic and health crisis that the Venezuelan people are suffering.», Mendoza said.

“There is a dictatorship, there is corruption … but what worries us is that this crisis will be resolved through democratic means. Peru must also contribute to it through dialogue with other governments in the region, ”he added.

The candidate made the statements to clarify her vision on the solution to the crisis in Venezuela expressed on Friday at a conference with the Association of Foreign Press in Peru (APEP). Asked if he would recognize the government of Nicolás Maduro as legitimate, Mendoza replied that he should be considered as “the interlocutor with whom this process of dialogue will have to be promoted to get out of this crisis, while summoning all sectors. of the opposition. “

For Mendoza, it is “obvious” that the role played by the Lima group, made up of a series of American countries which only recognize opposition leader Juan Guaidó as president in charge of Venezuela, “it was not the most efficient“. “(The Lima Group) is a space that has been weakened by Argentina’s recent withdrawal. He has not been able to resolve the political crisis in Venezuela, ”Mendoza said. “We We propose an articulation between the Lima Group and the International Contact Group Where are Norway, Mexico, and I understand that Chile recently joined, to try a new strategy for resolving the political crisis in Venezuela, based on the articulation of these two initiatives, ”he added.

More than a million Venezuelan migrants have entered Peru in recent years, making Maduro’s vision and proposals on security and migration one of the main themes of the presidential campaign.

Verónika Mendoza, 40 years old is the only left-wing candidate among the main contenders who contest the passage to the second round of the presidential elections. According to the latest published polls of intent to vote, there are barely three points of intent to vote between the candidate leading the polls, Yohny Lescano, of the Popular Action Party (AP), and the fifth, in a range that ranges from 12% to 9%.

Disinterest and indecision mark the prospects of the Peruvian electorate for these upcoming elections, as around 30% of voters have not yet decided on their vote or are considering voting blank or null.

More than 25 million Peruvians are called to the polls on April 11 to elect a president and his two vice-presidents for the period 2021-2026 and to renew the 130 representatives of the Congress, as well as the five representatives of the Andean Parliament.

Only the two most voted presidential candidates will go to the second round scheduled for June, if none of the eighteen in the running wins 50% of the votes in the first round.

(With information from EFE)

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