According to Miami Herald in an interview with Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Luis Videgaray Caso, Venezuela lacks democracy, its regime has authoritarian traits and poses risks for the Latin American region.
The Official, a guest of the Americas Conference Series with Andrés Oppenheimer, spoke on Tuesday, May 30, 2017 at the Braman Miller Center of the University of Miami, adding that his country would plead for a ruling on the case at the meeting of foreign ministers of the Organization of American States on Wednesday in Washington.
“Mexico will not stop using all diplomatic channels, including the OAS, in order to have a constructive impact on achieving a peaceful solution to the restoration of democracy. We have a country that, in fact, is no longer a functional democracy. Today it is not a democracy,” he said Tuesday during a town hall-style conversation with Miami Herald columnist Andrés Oppenheimer, organized by the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald at the University of Miami.
Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray Caso, guest of the Americas Conference Series with Andrés Oppenheimer, speaks on Tuesday, May 30, 2017 at the Braman Miller Center of the University of Miami.
During the conversation, Videgaray Caso discussed the situation in Venezuela, Mexico’s trade relations with the United States and immigration, among other issues.
The Mexican foreign minister said “the situation in Venezuela is extremely serious” and explained that he would expect the “international community to show interest.”
When asked if there is a dictatorship in Venezuela, he said “we are seeing authoritarian traits and it is something that should concern us all” in the region.
Speaking at UM’s Braman Miller Center as part of the “American Conference Series,” Videgaray Caso spoke about the importance of the OAS analyzing the Venezuelan case. But he clarified that “this does not mean that the OAS must solve the problem, because in the end the solution will inevitably depend on the Venezuelans, and in particular Maduro’s government should bear the responsibility.”
Mexico, he said, hoped that the resolution to be issued by the OAS foreign ministers will “talk about the need for an electoral timetable, to restore fully the powers of the National Assembly, to stop the use of military tribunals to prosecute civilians, the release of political prisoners” among other issues.
In response to a question from journalist and political analyst Carlos Alberto Montaner, he stressed that Mexico would not endorse an intervention in Venezuela.
Videgaray said that Mexico will also provide diplomatic aid to help with humanitarian aid to alleviate the shortage of medicines and food.
Source: www.miamiherald.com
