MEXICO City – Mexico said on Friday that it is willing to mediate between the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader and congress chief Juan Guaido, if both sides request and agree to it.
Guaido declared himself interim leader on Wednesday, with Washington and most Latin American nations backing the move. But Mexico – once a vocal member of the Lima Group regional bloc created to pressure Maduro to enact democratic reforms – struck a discordant tone.
Leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s government said it would not take sides and branded support for Guaido a violation of sovereignty.
“Let both sides ask for it. We’re willing to help in the mediation … we can’t do so just because one of the sides proposes it and says here we are,” Lopez Obrador told journalists.
Socialist Maduro said he supported proposals by Mexico and Uruguay to “create an international initiative for dialogue between the political forces in Venezuela, to seek an agreement within the framework of our Constitution, which guarantees stability and peace to all Venezuelans.”
Maduro, who has led the oil-rich nation since 2013 and was re-elected last year in an election largely seen as a sham, severed diplomatic ties with the United States earlier this week. (Reuters)
