MONTEVIDEO, Feb 7: Representatives from eight EU member states and four Latin American countries will address ways to resolve the current crisis in Venezuela at the first meeting of the International Contact Group (IGC) in Montevideo, Uruguay on Thursday.
On January 23, Juan Guaido, the head of the Venezuelan opposition-led National Assembly, proclaimed himself the country’s interim president and was immediately recognized by the United States, Canada and other US allies. Russia, Mexico, China, Turkey, Uruguay and several other countries came forward to reaffirm their support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as the country’s only legitimate democratically elected head of state.
In late January, in response to the political turmoil in Venezuela, the European Union announced the establishment of the International Contact Group (ICG) which is comprised of representatives from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom in addition to Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Uruguay.
ICG leaders earlier this week announced that the contact group’s first meeting will be co-hosted by the European Union and Uruguay in Montevideo on February 7 and will be held at the ministerial level.
In a joint statement released on February 3, EU High Representative Federica Mogherini and Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez said the agenda at the ICG inaugural meeting will be focused on finding a solution to help Venezuelans choose their own future.
“The [ICG]? aims at contributing to create conditions for a political and peaceful process to emerge, enabling Venezuelans to determine their own future, through the holding of free, transparent and credible elections, in line with the country’s Constitution,” the statement said.
The creation of the EU-Latin American ICG came after the expiration of an ultimatum from the European Union which gave Maduro eight days to organize new presidential elections. After the ultimatum elapsed over the weekend many European countries announced support for Guaido.
However, several EU countries have chosen to abstain from backing Guaido including Italy, Ireland, Greece and Slovakia. The Russian government described the decision by certain EU member states to recognize Guaido as “direct interference” in Venezuela’s domestic affairs.
The International Contact Group on Venezuela’s Terms of Reference, approved by group delegations on January 30 and released the following day, outlines the ICG’s objectives and mandate.
One of the group’s main objectives is to hold new presidential elections supervised by international independent observers, the document revealed.
ICG members also stated the goal of reaching out to relevant national actors regarding confidence building measures between the two sides in Venezuela.
Confidence building measures, according to the ICG objectives, would include things like release of political prisoners, recognition of the National Assembly’s constitutional role, facilitation of external aid, and lifting bans on opposition political parties from participating in Venezuelan elections.
The political appropriateness and results achieved by the ICG, according to the document, will be reviewed after 90 days and the group’s work will be terminated “in the absence of sufficient progress.”
In addition to the EU-South American ICG, other members of the international community have taken steps to resolve the crisis. Mexico and Uruguay have called for an international conference on Venezuela and the Lima Group recently gathered in Canada for discussing the situation.
After a meeting in Ottawa on Monday, eleven members of the Lima Group – Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay and Peru, issued a declaration affirming their support for Guaido.
Maduro has called the opposition leader a US puppet and accused Washington of attempting to organize a coup. Maduro also announced that Venezuela has cut diplomatic ties with the United States.
(AGENCIES)
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