Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has directly urged the West to keep up the pressure to bring about elections in his nation within four weeks, British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Jeremy Hunt said yesterday.
Hunt spoke with Guaido by telephone on Wednesday before an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Romania yesterday that was to discuss what further economic sanctions can be imposed on senior figures in the Venezuelan leadership.
Key EU nations are prepared to recognize Guaido as the legitimate interim president if Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro refuses to call fresh elections by Sunday.
Photo: AFP
Guaido, 35, a former student leader and head of the opposition-run Venezuelan National Assembly, has been at the forefront of a renewed attempt to force Maduro from power.
He said in an opinion piece for the New York Times on Wednesday that he had held “clandestine” meetings with the military to try to persuade them to withdraw their support for Maduro.
Protesters marched in Caracas on Wednesday calling for Maduro to stand down.
The European Parliament has voted to recognize Guaido due to his role as president of the National Assembly, but not every EU state has issued the Sunday ultimatum.
Although the bulk of the anti-Maduro sanctions policy is being determined in Washington and Latin America, the EU could have a role in trying to cut off supplies to Maduro.
Maduro has accused US President Donald Trump and a “group of extremists around him” of plotting to topple him to seize Venezuela’s oil.
The Venezuelan Supreme Court has imposed a travel ban and financial restrictions on Guaido.
Speaking on BBC radio, Hunt said a humanitarian catastrophe was unfolding in Venezuela.
“Here in Britain and Europe we cannot determine the outcome of what happens in Venezuela. It has to be for the people of Venezuela, but what we can do is support the president of the National Assembly that wants to uphold the constitution and is saying there need to be elections in four weeks because there is not a legitimate president,” Hunt said.
“We are not considering sanctions against the whole country because there is a humanitarian situation and we wouldn’t want to make the situation even worse, but targeted sanctions against the kleptocrats who have enriched themselves on the back of the rest of the population who are very poor, that is something I think can be effective,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Spanish government called for the immediate release of four members of a news team from news agency EFE who have been detained in Venezuela.
EFE said that three of its journalists — a Spaniard and two Colombians — and their Venezuelan driver were arrested in Caracas on Wednesday.
“Since learning of the arrest, the government, through our embassy in Caracas, is doing everything necessary to secure their swift release,” the Spanish government said yesterday. “The government demands that the relevant authorities release them at once. The government also urges the Venezuelan authorities to respect the rule of law, human rights and basic freedoms, of which the freedom of the press is a central element.”
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