Caracas, Apr 10 (EFE).- The head of Venezuela’s opposition-controlled Parliament, Juan Guaido, who has been recognized as the country’s leader by more than 50 nations, said Wednesday that “never again” will the opposition engage in “false dialogues” with the government of Nicolas Maduro, who he contends has “usurped” the presidency.
“We Venezuelans are not offering ourselves for any false dialogue,” said Guaido during a protest in eastern Caracas regarding the efforts that Western Hemisphere and European countries have made to find a solution to the Venezuelan crisis via dialogue.
The opposition leader added that a route had been “very clearly” drawn toward achieving a solution to Venezuela’s crisis and he noted that that route includes “ending the usurpation” by Maduro, the establishment of a transition government and the holding of “free” elections.
“Any multilateral organization, entity, envoy or country who wants to cooperate to end the usurpation, (set up) a transition government and (hold) free elections, welcome; but never again any false dialogues. Never again,” he emphasized.
To deal with the Venezuelan conflict, both the European Union and certain Latin American countries have created mechanisms to try and find common ground among the parties and reach a solution.
Specifically, the EU created the so-called Contact Group – comprised of Spain, Germany, France and five other nations in the European bloc, while Mexico, Uruguay, Bolivia and the Caribbean Community (Caricom) set up the Montevideo Mechanism.
On Monday, the EU met to discuss the progress of the Contact Group and later announced that it will accelerate its diplomatic efforts to find a solution to the political crisis in Venezuela but did not rule out sanctioning Venezuelan authorities if it finds them responsible for violence.
Meanwhile, Maduro on Saturday called on the members of the Montevideo Mechanism to “retake” the initiative to push forward with political dialogue in his country.