Former President Iván Duque reported that will not attend the Foreign Relations Advisory Committee convened by the Foreign Ministry to address the political crisis in Venezuela.
Through his X account, the former Colombian president explained that he rejected the invitation because does not share the Petro government’s position regarding the situation in the neighboring country.
“I want to inform you that as former President of the Republic, I will not attend the meeting that has been called for August 21. The reason why I will not attend is because the policy that the Colombian government has adopted towards the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro has been ambivalent and, why not say it, complicit in its silence in the face of the atrocities and the systematic violations of human rights.”he said.
In his message, Duque also emphasized the importance of Colombia adopting a clear position and recognizing the victory of Edmundo González as president of Venezuela. In addition, he stressed the need to make known to public opinion and the international community “the seriousness of systematic violations of human rights,” as well as to ask international bodies to speed up the processes against Maduro.
(Read more: Petro’s defense of a close businessman and the ban on coal exports to Israel)
I will not attend the Foreign Relations Advisory Commission because I do not share the ambivalent and complicit position of the Petro government with the Venezuelan dictatorship. pic.twitter.com/iWf6urWt4K
— Iván Duque 🇨🇴 (@IvanDuque) August 20, 2024
(See: Venezuela will host a world congress against fascism, Nicolás Maduro reported)
In addition to former President Duque, other political figures have rejected the call. This includes former president Andrés Pastrana (1998-2002).
Pastrana sent a letter addressed to Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo in which he explains that he will not attend the meeting, since “The Government preferred to support tyrannies and terrorism”referring to Nicolás Maduro.
According to what the former president mentioned in the letter, the Government “supported the Maduro dictatorship, against the will of the Venezuelan people, and maintains an unacceptable complicit silence in the face of the serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed daily by the regime of dictator Maduro. My democratic convictions prevent me from attending that meeting.”
(See: ‘Listen to the Venezuelans and the Colombians’: María Corina’s message to Petro)
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