On Monday, the presidents of Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, and France held a private meeting with a delegation of the Venezuelan government and opposition in Brussels, reports Venezuelan broadcaster YVKE Mundial.
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Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez and Venezuelan opposition chief negotiator Gerardo Blyde participated in the meeting that took place in the framework of the III Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac)-European Union Summit in Brussels, the capital of Belgium.
It was attended by Presidents Gustavo Petro (Colombia), Alberto Fernández (Argentina), Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazil), and Emmanuel Macron (France), as well as the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell.
The meeting was intended to reactivate the mediation process and the dialogue process between the different factions of Venezuelan society.
Following are remarks by Colombian President Gustavo Petro prior to the meeting:
Q: What do you expect from today’s meeting with Presidents Macron, Alberto Fernandez, and Lula de Silva?
A. It is a mediation meeting with the French president and the presidents of Latin America. Our objective is to bring together both the Venezuelan government and the opposition. Our intention is to prepare the environment for the process through dialogue between the different factions of Venezuelan society so that a democratic agreement can be reached.
Q: Is Colombia going to host this summit?
A. Yes. The Colombian territory is always open to dialogue. In fact, Venezuela is a guarantor of the two peace processes that took place; it has been a territorial space for dialogue. Therefore, we are willing to accommodate a democratic dialogue in Venezuela.
Q. What do you think about the visit of the President of Mexico to the anti-drug summit?
A. We have a meeting of experts to evaluate the 50 years of the so-called “war on drugs”. It ended very badly, in difficult circumstances for everyone: a million dead, millions of prisoners, and a deadly change in the structure of consumption in the United States. Now with fontanil: 100,000 deaths per year. We also have very deep democratic destabilization.
So it is time to evaluate; it is time to propose perhaps more effective strategies. Colombia and Mexico have been profound victims of these kinds of policies, so they have a right to come together.
The Venezuelan government and the opposition formally met for the last time last November in Mexico.
