The Diplomat
Spain, the United States, the European Union, and around twenty European and Latin American countries, as well as Canada and Morocco, signed today in Santo Domingo, taking advantage of the presence of their leaders at the inauguration of the Dominican president, Luis Abinader, a joint declaration in which they make “a firm call for good sense and sanity in Venezuela”, demand an end to the repression of protests, demand the release of prisoners and ask for the publication of the minutes of the elections of July 28.
The declaration, according to sources from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs told The Diplomat, is important “because of the number of countries, because for the first time European and Latin American countries are joining.” The same sources assured that Spain has been at the origin of the preparation of the text together with the Dominican Republic “and has led the position of the EU.”
They also highlighted that in the declaration “the tone of criticism has been raised” to the Bolivarian regime for its attitude after the elections. The declaration has been prepared taking advantage of the presence of leaders from different countries in Santo Domingo to attend the inauguration of Luis Abinader for a second term as president of the Dominican Republic. On behalf of the Spanish Government, the State Secretary for Ibero-America, Susana Sumelzo, was present in the Dominican capital, since she was the one who accompanied His Majesty the King at the inauguration, instead of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, who followed the negotiations of the text from Madrid.
In addition to the European Union, the declaration has been signed by 21 countries: the United States, Argentina, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, Guatemala, Guyana, Italy, Morocco, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, the Dominican Republic, Suriname and Uruguay.
The signatories urge ‘respect for democratic principles, as well as for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Venezuelans and, in particular, for the right to demonstrate peacefully and to exercise freedom of expression’. They also express their ‘profound rejection’ of the repression and violence ‘that have cost the lives of many Venezuelans’ and express their alarm at ‘reports of arbitrary detentions without due process’ and call for the release of the detainees.
The statement also calls for ‘the urgent return of the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to Venezuela’, and asks the Venezuelan government to ensure ‘adequate conditions for it to fully carry out its mandate’.
Regarding the six people who remain refugees in the official residence of the Argentinean ambassador, the 21 signatories remind the Maduro government that Venezuela is a State party to the 1954 Caracas Convention on Diplomatic Asylum and, therefore, ‘must comply with its precepts and issue the safe-conducts that allow the six asylum seekers to “withdraw safely from Venezuelan territory”.
They also recall that the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE) has not yet presented the electoral records that support the veracity of the results announced on 2 August, as stated in a preliminary report by the United Nations Panel of Experts on the Venezuelan presidential elections, and request their immediate publication.
‘The moment calls for a comprehensive, inclusive and good faith dialogue to facilitate a political settlement that will foster national reconciliation, peace, public security and democracy in Venezuela,’ the statement concludes.
