The Lima Group, a regional bloc comprised mostly of Latin American nations, said on Tuesday that it does not “recognize the legitimacy or legality of the National Assembly installed on January 5” in Venezuela.
The Lima Group regional bloc said on Monday that it backed the re-election of opposition leader Juan Guaido as head of Venezuela's Congress after the government of Nicolas Maduro forced a separate vote imposing a new leader of the legislative body.
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 Peronist Felipe Solá, one of the candidates for minister of foreign affairs in the government of the president-elect of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, said Monday that the next administration, to renegotiate the debt, will not change its vision regarding Venezuela.
In a meeting convened by the Organization of American States, 16 of the 19 states party to the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, a 1947 pact known as the Rio Treaty, backed using the pact to collaborate on law-enforcement operations and economic sanctions against Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, and associates, accusing his regime of criminal activity including drug trafficking and money laundering.
US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will attend a summit in Lima, Peru to discuss Venezuela on Tuesday, the US Commerce Department said. US national security adviser John Bolton has also confirmed attendance, two sources in Peru's foreign ministry said on Friday.
Brazil's Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo on Friday pleaded with the country's partners in the BRICS group of emerging economies to heed the “cries” of Venezuelans and work together to end the crisis.
The Lima Group made up of mostly Latin American countries called on the United Nations on Monday to “take action” to prevent an escalation of Venezuela's humanitarian crisis.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held talks on Saturday with Paraguay's President Mario Abdo Benitez as part of a four-nation tour of Latin American allies focusing heavily on Venezuela and countering China's economic reach.
The United States targeted Venezuela's government with new sanctions on Monday and called on allies to freeze the assets of its state-owned oil company PDVSA after deadly violence blocked aid from reaching the crisis-hit country during the weekend.