US authorities have not approached the Mexican government with a proposal that Mexico could grant asylum to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro amid political crisis in the country, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said
MEXICO CITY (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd April, 2019) US authorities have not approached the Mexican government with a proposal that Mexico could grant asylum to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro amid political crisis in the country, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said.
Media reports suggesting that Mexico could offer asylum to Maduro emerged after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last week that the United States, which backs Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, was in contact with Mexico about Maduro's future.
"We have not received any suggestions that we could grant asylum [to Maduro]. To be honest, I am not aware of such plans. Mexico believes that it is necessary to engage in dialogue, to communicate and to move on toward such a solution that would prevent a big humanitarian crisis in Venezuela," Ebrard told reporters in Mexico City.
The minister emphasized that the Mexican authorities were always expressing their concerns to Caracas over human rights violations in Venezuela.
Mexico has repeatedly stressed that it had no intention to meddle into internal affairs of Venezuela. While the country is part of the Lima Group, which firmly opposes Maduro, it has not signed the latest statements by the Lima Group that were critical toward the official Venezuelan government. The Mexican Foreign Ministry said in January that it still recognized Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela.
Apart from that, Mexico, alongside Uruguay and the Caribbean Community, initiated the Montevideo Mechanism in February, promoting crisis settlement via dialogue.
Venezuela has been facing an acute political crisis since January, when Guaido � the head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, which all other government branches have been refusing to recognize since 2016 � declared himself the country's "interim president." Maduro, who was sworn in for his second presidential term on January 10 after winning the May election, which part of the opposition boycotted, qualified Guaido's move as an attempt to stage a coup orchestrated by Washington.
The United States recognized Guaido, and around 50 other countries followed suit. Russia, China, Cuba, Bolivia and a number of other states have, in the meantime, voiced their support for the legitimate government under Maduro.
