CARACAS: Venezuela's government claimed
victory on Saturday (Jan 21) in a diplomatic quarrel with Latin American
countries over a border dispute with Guyana, while ignoring an
avalanche of criticism over President Nicolas Maduro's second term in
office.
Maduro had warned members of the so-called Lima Group of "diplomatic
measures" after they said on Jan. 4 that they would not recognise his
second term because Venezuela's 2018 election was not free or fair.
The statement, signed by nations including Brazil, Argentina and
Colombia, also expressed concern that Venezuela had violated Guyana's
sovereignty by stopping a ship doing offshore oil exploration on behalf
of Exxon Mobil Corp.
Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said at a news conference on Saturday
that 10 of the 12 governments that signed the statement had since
clarified their position on the Guyana dispute.
"We believe that regional diplomacy has convinced these countries" to
reconsider the border issue, Arreaza said. "Diplomacy has ensured the
rule of law."
He said he hoped that the other two countries - Paraguay and Canada -
would follow the example of the bloc's other members. Paraguay cut
diplomatic ties with Venezuela on Thursday.
Arreaza did not address the Group's broader point about the legitimacy
of Maduro, who was sworn in on Thursday, except to denounce the bloc's
Jan. 4 statement as "vulgar" interference in Venezuelan internal
affairs.
The OPEC nation's 2018 vote was widely boycotted by the opposition and
condemned as rigged by governments around the world. Maduro insists it
was fair and that opposition leaders did not take part because they knew
they would lose.
Speaking in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
described Maduro's government as illegitimate and said the United States
would work with like-minded nations in Latin America to restore
democracy in Venezuela.
The head of the country's opposition-run Congress, Juan Guaido, said on
Friday that he was prepared to assume the presidency on an interim basis
and call elections, because Maduro had been declared illegitimate.
Congress has been stripped of powers by the Supreme Court and a
pro-Maduro legislature known as the Constituent Assembly, and the impact
of Guaido's remarks was not immediately clear. Brazil's government said
on Saturday that it recognised the opposition lawmaker as the
legitimate president of Venezuela.
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