The members of South America’s Mercosur trade bloc called for an end to violence in Venezuela in a joint statement on Friday, while Brazil and Argentina expressed wariness about following the US in preparing possible economic sanctions.
Mercosur members Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay again called on Venezuela to release political prisoners, and offered to facilitate talks between Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government and the opposition in the statement issued as the nations met in Mendoza, Argentina, to discuss trade and regional integration.
Associate Mercosur members Chile, Colombia and Guyana, as well as Mexico, also signed the statement, which called on both the government and the opposition to “not take any initiative that could divide Venezuelan society even more, or aggravate institutional conflicts.”
The statement comes days after US officials said they were preparing sanctions against Venezuelan government figures.
Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs Aloysio Nunes and Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs Jorge Faurie told reporters Mercosur countries were hesitant to follow suit.
“None of us are willing to apply any sanctions that will affect, above all, the Venezuelan people,” Faurie said.
Nunes said any Mercosur decision would be “autonomous” of US action and that interruptions of food shipments from Brazil to Venezuela could “aggravate the humanitarian crisis even more.”
Venezuela was suspended from Mercosur in December last year amid concerns about human rights.
On Friday, Venezuelan prosecutors said the death toll in months of anti-government protests rose to 103 as a nationwide strike called by the opposition saw large parts of the capital, Caracas, and other cities paralyzed on Thursday, when violent clashes erupted between protesters and riot police.
Prosecutors said the five fatalities occurred during demonstrations on the outskirts of Caracas, in the city of Valencia, and in northern Zulia state.
Victims were aged between 15 and 34, they said.
In April, Argentine President Mauricio Macri said that Venezuela could be expelled from Mercosur if it did not change its behavior.
The joint statement did not refer to Maduro’s plan to hold a vote on Sunday next week to elect a constituent assembly with powers to rewrite the nation’s constitution.
Mexico on Thursday had called on Maduro to shelve the vote.
Bolivia, whose President Evo Morales is one of Maduro’s few remaining allies in the region, is in the process of becoming a Mercosur member.
At the meeting, Mercosur members agreed to establish common legal conditions within the bloc to encourage investment and took steps to boost trade ties with the Pacific Alliance countries of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.
Additional reporting by AFP
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