OAS Secretary General Candidate Calls For New Mechanism To Resolve Venezuela Crisis

OAS Secretary General Candidate Calls for New Mechanism to Resolve Venezuela Crisis

All ongoing efforts aimed at addressing the situation in Venezuela must be reassessed because a fresh tool is needed to solve the crisis, Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General candidate Maria Fernanda Espinosa told Sputnik

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th February, 2020) All ongoing efforts aimed at addressing the situation in Venezuela must be reassessed because a fresh tool is needed to solve the crisis, Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General candidate Maria Fernanda Espinosa told Sputnik.

"There is a need for a fresh new tool for the Venezuelan issue," Espinosa said. "It has certainly been one of the most divisive issues for the Organization. I don't think that we can expect to repeat the same strategy and yet obtain a different outcome... There is a need to assess all of the ongoing efforts to find an outlet to the Venezuelan crisis. I think that there is a need to take Venezuela [off] the red carpet and the flashes."

Espinosa noted the OAS members are very divided on the Venezuela issue, which must be taken very seriously in order to conduct a pragmatic assessment of the situation and understand why different efforts undertaken thus far have not worked.

"The whole situation needs a reassessment, including all the ongoing initiatives from different groups... The contact group with the participation of the European Union, the dialogue process started by Norway and hosted by Barbados, the Dominican Republic dialogue, the Lima Group efforts, etc. I think we need to reassess that and really think about new avenues," she said.

Espinosa, whose experience includes leading Ecuador's foreign and defense ministries - as well as serving as president of the 73rd UN General Assembly - emphasized that dialogue is the only instrument in diplomacy.

"I think that the key issue is how we start. We are going to undertake a renewed and refreshed dialogue. What is the road map?" Espinosa said. "This has to be, of course, discussed with member states."

Espinosa pointed out that all efforts to re-think and re-organize should be guided by the end goal of improving the well-being and future of the Venezuelan people. One of the possible actions is utilizing an existing specialized committee to tackle migration and refugees in the Western hemisphere.

Espinosa said she just published a position paper about what she would suggest OAS should do regarding migration and refugees.

"That includes the Venezuelan men and women and children that have left the country. And these numbers are very high. And I think that this is an issue that requires collective action and an international responsibility," Espinosa said. "The mandate is there, the institutional structure is there. I am proposing very specific action."

Venezuela has faced a political-economic crisis since January of 2019 when the head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly Juan Guaido proclaimed himself an interim president of Venezuela in a bid to oust from power actual President Nicolas Maduro. Maduro has said Guaido is a US puppet and accused the United States of attempting to force a change in government in Venezuela so that Washington can control the country's natural resources.