Chancellor Ampuero: "The Lima Group is not going to recognize the Venezuelan government of Nicolás Maduro"
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Roberto Ampuero, participated today in the meeting of the Lima Group, held in the capital of Peru. At this meeting, the governments of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Saint Lucia signed a declaration in which they reiterated that the electoral process carried out in Venezuela on May 20th, 2018, lacks legitimacy and they urged Nicolás Maduro not to assume the presidency on January 10th, 2019.
"The Lima Group is not going to recognize the Venezuelan government of Nicolás Maduro, which begins its functions on January 10th of this year," said Foreign Minister Ampuero after the meeting. "These elections, for which Nicolás Maduro was elected, did not meet the minimum requirements of what should be free, transparent, with observers, democratic elections. And that is why the power that emerges from those elections is not going to be recognized by the countries of the Lima Group".
The Secretary of State pointed out that the decision agreed upon by the countries that make up the Lima Group "launches an alert campaign to the international community and that at the same time expresses the recognition of the Venezuelan people and also the recognition of the National Assembly, the democratic body effectively elected by the Venezuelan people.
The document, among other announcements, calls on all OAS member states to reaffirm their support for the OAS Charter and the Inter-American Democratic Charter in order to contribute to the restoration of democratic order in Venezuela. In addition, it exhorts "the Venezuelan regime to allow the immediate entry of humanitarian assistance for the people of Venezuela, in order to prevent the worsening of the humanitarian and public health crisis".
A series of measures were also agreed upon, such as "reassessing the status or level of its diplomatic relations with Venezuela, based on the restoration of democracy and constitutional order in that country"; "preventing senior officials of the Venezuelan regime from entering the territory of the countries of the Lima Group-according to what their internal legislation permits"; and "urging other members of the international community to adopt measures similar to those agreed upon by the Lima Group against the regime of Nicolás Maduro in favor of the restoration of democracy".
