Venezuelan officials are rejecting an offer from Uruguay to help mediate between the Venezuelan government and opposition protesters, who have staged large-scale, and sometimes violent, demonstrations.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said Friday that his government will not accept any international mediation to end the conflict. He thanked Uruguayan President Jose Mujica for offering to step in, but said the situation in Venezuela doesn’t require a mediator.
Jaua’s comments also presumably applied to a similar offer from former American President Jimmy Carter.
Jaua has also outright rejected any involvement from the Organization of American States, or OAS, made up of member nations pushing for security and solidarity in the region.
Some U.S. lawmakers are urging the OAS to convene its Permanent Council to seek a way to end the violence.
Jaua says Venezuela doesn’t want its internal conflict taken up by OAS, which is based in Washington, D.C.
He has said he prefers to discuss Venezuela’s problems with the Union of South American Nations, and has visited Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay, as part of a regional tour. He is expected to travel to Brazil next.
— Mary Murray