MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th October, 2019) Venezuela's Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza has criticized the European Union and a number of Latin American states for expressing concerns over what they call a migrant problem in the region.
An International Contact Group on Venezuela held a conference in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday, discussing the crisis situation in Venezuela.
"Go CINISM: the EU, UNHCR [UN High Commissioner for Refugees] and IOM [International Organization for Migration] summon governments that block the Venezuelan economy, generate suffering and cause migration, steal resources and threaten to isolate and attack Venezuela," Arreaza wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
He accused the participants of the Brussels conference of hypocrisy, saying that their concern for the migration situation in the region is only a pretext.
The decision to set up the International Contact Group on Venezuela was made at an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in late January. The group comprises eight EU member states - France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom - and five Latin American countries - Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama and Uruguay - along with the European Union.
In January, US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido proclaimed himself interim president in a bid to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power. Some Western countries have sided with Guaido, while Russia, China, Turkey and several other states firmly backed Maduro.
Amid the crisis situation in Venezuela, over 4 million people have left the country seeking better life conditions, mainly in other Latin American states. According to UNHCR, there are currently 4.5 million refugees and migrants, and over 650,000 asylum-seekers from Venezuela worldwide. About 2 million people from Venezuela reside in the Americas under other legal forms of stay.
