The presidents of Uruguay, Tabaré Vázquez, and of Argentina, Mauricio Macri, will meet on Wednesday with an “open agenda” that will include discussing the ongoing political crisis in Venezuela, the Uruguayan presidency announced Monday.
The meeting will take place in the presidential residence of Anchorena, in the Colonia Department, 200 km west of the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo.
“The situation in Venezuela and the constant search for a consolidation of Mercosur will be issues that will surely be on the table of dialogue” in the closed-door meeting, a source from the Uruguayan presidency told AFP.
Mercosur, or the Southern Common Market, is a South American Trade bloc.
The summit will be held in times of tension in Venezuela, where the opposition party, led by self-proclaimed president Juan Guaidó, has demand that the military ignore President Nicolás Maduro’s order to prevent the entry of humanitarian aid from the United States.
After a meeting last Thursday in Montevideo, the International Contact Group — made up of eight European countries and three from Latin America (France, Germany, United Kingdom, Holland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Italy, Uruguay, Ecuador and Costa Rica) — issued a call for free presidential elections to be held in Venezuela as a peaceful solution to the nation’s crisis.
Argentina, meanwhile, is one of the 11 countries of the Lima Group (comprising 14 nations, including Costa Rica) that have recognized Guaidó, while Uruguay has refused to recognize the self-proclamation of the Venezuelan politician and favors dialogue to avoid a foreign intervention.
Vázquez and Macri may also continue to address the 2030 World Cup, which Uruguay and Argentina aspire to host alongside Paraguay.
This story was made possible thanks to The Tico Times 5 % Club. If only 5 percent our readers donated at least $2 a month, we’d have our operating costs covered and could focus on bringing you more original reporting from around Costa Rica. We work hard to keep our reporting independent and groundbreaking, but we can only do it with your help. Join The Tico Times 5% Club and help make stories like this one possible.
