MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Bolivia's interim government decides to join the Lima Group to address the Venezuela situation
Bolivian foreign ministry said in a statement that it hoped to “contribute to a peaceful, democratic and constitutional solution to the crisis in Venezuela” Bolivia on Sunday announced its entry into the Lima Group regional bloc that was set up to find a way out of the Venezuelan crisis. The Bolivian foreign ministry said in a statement that it hoped to “contribute to a peaceful, democratic and constitutional solution to the crisis in Venezuela, which must be guided by the Venezuelan people.”
The Lima Group was founded in 2017 by countries including Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Santa Lucia, Canada, Colombia, Honduras, Costa Rica and Guatemala, with the support of the United States, the Organization of American States and the European Union.
It has called for the release of political prisoners, the holding of free elections and the entry of humanitarian aid to the stricken country.
Bolivia’s leftist former president, Evo Morales, had kept his country out of the bloc. Morales is a long-time ally of Venezuela’s socialist President Nicolas Maduro.
Morales resigned from office and fled Bolivia in November amid pressure from street rioting after an international audit detected significant irregularities in an election that had handed him a fresh mandate.
He went first to Mexico and then to Argentina where the new Peronist government of Alberto Fernandez has indicated it will give him political asylum.
Bolivia is currently governed by Jeanine Añez, a conservative former senator and opponent of Morales. Añez stepped in as interim president after Morales resigned.
Top Comments
Disclaimer & comment rules-
-
Read all commentsThe self-proclaimed Bolivian government was put in place after police forces refused to maintain public order while organized mobs attacked the residences of officials of the government of Evo Morales. The armed forces “suggested” Morales to resign,which he did before going into hiding and later fleeing to safety.
Dec 23rd, 2019 - 06:36 pm 0In the best style so common in the 1970s, however, the illegitimate government of Janine Añez was almost instantly recognized by the US government. President Donald Trump publicly congratulated those responsible for the coup d'état in Bolivia.
“The United States applauds the Bolivian people for demanding freedom and the Bolivian military for abiding by its oath to protect not just a single person, but Bolivia’s constitution,” Trump said in a statement quoted by Bloomberg.
To his credit, then Argentine in-waiting president Alberto Fernández openly criticized the coup.
”The U.S. 'regressed decades' on foreign policy and 'moved back to the worst of the 1970s, endorsing military interventions against popular governments,'” Fernandez said.
Argentina has refrained from recognizing Añez government, and Fernandez was part of an international effort to get Morales out of Bolivia where his life was at risk on the wake of the coup.
Bolivia's intérim government have been busy. So busy, they have still not set a date for the new elections. They had one job... and it wasn't rewriting Bolivia's foreign policy with no mandate from the voters.
Dec 23rd, 2019 - 11:26 pm 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!