Venezuela Crisis - Press Conference (3 June 2019)

Following a meeting between members of the Lima Group and the International Contact Group on Venezuela at the United Nations, the foreign ministers of Peru, Chile, and Canada issued a joint statement highlighting that “the regional impact of the crisis requires the region and the international community to play a more active role in supporting a prompt return to democracy in Venezuela.”
According to the statement, read by the Foreign Minister of Peru, Néstor Popolizio, the participants “reiterated their backing to the democratically elected National Assembly and affirmed the need to fully restore and respect its powers as well as to release all political prisoners.”
Popolizio said, “they agreed to continue a close interaction including on outreach to all the relevant international actors. Both groups will also continue to work together in denouncing human rights violations in the country in the context of the Human Rights Council and other multilateral bodies.”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile, Roberto Ampuero, said today was “a great day and good news for all of those who search for a peaceful and political solution in the crisis of Venezuela.”
He said, “very important countries from Europe and Latin America have agreed today on this document, looking into the future, and stressing that the will of all those who signed this document, that the solution for Venezuela under the current crisis is a peaceful one, a political one. And at the same time, this group of countries are sending a powerful message to the international community in order to support this kind of efforts.”
For her part, Canada’s Foreign Minister, Chrystia Freeland, said “the countries in our region, in our hemisphere, have taken the initiative to work together to help, to support the people of Venezuela; to support the work that the people of Venezuela are doing now for democracy and human rights in their country.”
The International Contact Group on Venezuela, initiated by Mexico and Uruguay, includes Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
The Lima group includes Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Guyana, Saint Lucia, and Peru.