President Ivan Duque questioned all efforts aimed at re-establishing a dialogue process to find a way out of the situation in Venezuela, while Nicholas Maduro continue in power.
The president echoed a statement made this week by a senior United States official who assured that his country could review its policy of pressure and sanctions against Caracas if Maduro and the opposition resume dialogue and this reflects tangible results.
“Back to the table is simply prolong an agony of dialogues that have no basis because the dictationIf what he wants is to equip himself with power, it makes no sense,” he declared.
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In an interview in Galapagos (Ecuador), where he went to support the expansion of the marine reserve around the Ecuadorian archipelago, Duque considered as a priority condition that “Maduro get out of the exercise of dictatorship and usurpation.”
And by expressing his discredit for the negotiation process in Mexico, abruptly interrupted last October, he also conditioned all progress so that in Venezuela there can be a transitional government with broad representation of all sectors, the calling of free elections and an economic reconstruction plan.
Colombia’s position on Venezuela, Duque stressed, has always been based on multilateralism, such as when “we denounced Nicolás Maduro with various heads of state before the International Criminal Court” or supported “Juan Guaidó with more than 50 countries.”
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And he warned that if “the purpose for which the US Government invites to return to the table is to continue in this sequence (Maduro leaving power, transition government, free elections and reconstruction plan), welcome, but it has to be on a single basis.
The first and main one is that the Venezuelan ruler abandons power because he assured: “Maduro is the Slobodan Milosevic of Latin America.”
“How can there be a credible process with a criminal against humanity exercising dictatorship, persecuting opponents, locking them up, and additionally sponsoring the international terrorism of the ELN and the FARC dissidents, so that they settle in Venezuela?” he asked.
