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Argentina will not recognize the result of next month's presidential elections in Venezuela, which are being boycotted by the main opposition parties, President Mauricio Macri said Tuesday.
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"We are not going to validate the result of the election on May 20," said Macri after talks in Buenos Aires with visiting Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. "It does not have any value: even if Mr. Maduro insults me, we will not recognize him as a democratic president because there has not been a democracy in Venezuela for some time."
Speaking at a joint press conference, the conservative Argentine president said the crisis would be "top of the agenda" at the Summit of the Americas, which begins Friday in Lima. He said countries agreeing that the elections have no validity will discuss at the summit what measures could be taken against Maduro's government.
"Unfortunately, the problem (of Venezuela) is of such magnitude that it already affects the entire region and has overflowed all borders," Macri said.
Earlier on Tuesday, former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced he will be one of the observers in the May 20 presidential elections in Venezuela.
Zapatero was one of the mediators in the dialogue attempts hosted in Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic, in which the opposition failed to sign the final agreement reached with the Venezuelan government.
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