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Former Uruguayan President Jose "Pepe" Mujica slammed violence protests by radical sectors Venezuela's opposition as well the actions of the Organization of American States' general-secretary, saying they are putting the South American country and the entire region "in danger."
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In an interview with the Uruguayan website Caras y Caretas, the beloved former Uruguayan leader accused Venezuela's right-wing of acting in a radical and "irrational" way, while also criticizing OAS head Luis Almagro, who served as former minister under Mujica.
"What most distresses me in Venezuela is the opposition or at least a very important part of it," he said. "The radicalization (of Venezuela's opposition) and what Almagro is doing from the OAS is a danger, not only for Venezuela, but for the entire continent."
Mujica added that "the worst thing that we can do as Latin Americans is to give fuel to the interventionism," and urged dialogue as a solution "to appease the spirits."
Since the beginning of April, protests called by opposition parties have led to violence, claiming the lives of more than two dozen people and wounding more than 400 others, while causing significant damage to public infrastructure and buildings including hospitals and schools, as well as small businesses who have been looted.
On Apr. 27, Venezuela announced it would begin the process of withdrawing from the OAS, after repeated attempts by Almagro to sanction the South American country under the organization's so-called "Democratic Charter." Almagro has also been chided by Venezuelan officials and diplomats from other Latin American and Caribbean countries for his open support to Venezuela's opposition groups and leaders, including his unprecedented step in calling for general elections in Venezuela ahead of the 2018 date.
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Since making the announcement, a number of Latin American countries have thrown support behind Venezuela's decision to withdraw from the OAS.
Member states of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, known as ALBA, issued a statement Saturday saying they back Venezuela's "historic" move to renounce the hemispheric bloc for its biased stance towards the country's economic and political crises.
Exiting the OAS is "a sovereign and historic decision in defense of its independence," said the group, with includes Venezuela and Cuba, as well as Bolivia, Nicaragua, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Ecuador, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Grenada.
Pope Francis addressed ongoing political turmoil in Venezuela on Saturday, remarking that sectors of the country’s right-wing opposition oppose dialogue with the socialist government.
“Part of the opposition does not want this,” Francis said, Ciudad CCS reported.
The religious leader also said the opposition is “divided” and “seems to have conflicts that are becoming more acute.”
Henrique Capriles rejected the pope's call for dialogue with the government of Nicolas Maduro to peacefully resolve the current political impasse in the country and said he was against the inclusion former presidents of the region, including Panama's Martin Torrijos and the Dominican Republic's Leonel Fernandez, as mediators.
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