Latin American leaders called on the international community to find solutions to the crisis in Venezuela during the United Nations General Assembly this week.
Dictator Nicolás Maduro opted not to attend this year’s assembly alongside his closest ally, Cuban leader Raúl Castro, making socialist Bolivian leader Evo Morales the only Latin American ally of the regime to take the stage. Rather than defending Maduro, Morales used his speech to rail against global capitalism and its impact on the environment.
However, the majority of regional leaders used their speech to call for the restoration of democracy in Venezuela, whose crisis is increasingly affecting the region as a whole.
Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro blamed the current crisis on the “cruelties of socialism,” which have transformed Venezuela from one of the most prosperous countries in the region to one of the poorest in the world.
“Venezuela, formerly a vibrant and democratic country, is now experiencing the cruelties of socialism,” he said, adding that the country was effectively controlled by Cuban military officials.
The conservative firebrand also admitted that despite the ousting of multiple left-wing governments in recent years, socialist ideology “is still alive” across the continent. “We will work with other countries to restore democracy in Venezuela and to fight socialism,” he declared.
Ecuador’s Lenin Moreno
Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno called on the United Nations and the international community to find a solution to remove the “despotic” Maduro regime, acknowledging that his country was struggling to manage the inflow of Venezuelan refugees entering the country.
“We have welcomed some 500,000 Venezuelans brothers and sisters, victims of the worst exodus of our continent,” he said. “It is now the job of the United Nations to find a definitive solution to the crisis in Venezuela.”
“In Ecuador, despite our insufficiencies of resources, we have attended to all those who reached our land up until the month of August,” he said on Wednesday. “Today, in this worldwide democratic forum, we call upon everyone to have a dialogue with the victims of this conflict, to help them to find a way out of a disaster created by an irresponsible de facto government. ”
Argentina’s Mauricio Macri
Argentine President Mauricio Macri pledged to bring the Maduro regime to the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity.
“Argentina will bring to the International Criminal Court the crimes against humanity of the Venezuelan dictatorship,” Macri said, before pleading with Maduro to accept the humanitarian aid offered by the rest of the region.
“We are part of a regional response that seeks to mitigate the difficulties of millions of Venezuelan citizens,” he added, pointing Argentina has already accepted 130,000 Venezuelan migrants.
Colombia’s Iván Duque
Colombian President Iván Duque used his address to provide “conclusive proof” of the Maduro regime’s support for Marxist terrorist groups within Colombia, many of whose leaders seek refuge in the neighboring country.
“My government has irrefutable and conclusive proof that corroborates the support of the dictatorship for criminal and narco-terrorist groups that operate in Venezuela to try and attack Colombia,” Duque said, holding up a copy of the dossier. “This dossier, of 128 pages, contains the evidence that shows the complicity of the regime of Nicolás Maduro with the terrorist cartels that attack the Colombian people.”
Peru’s Martín Vizcarra
“Without a doubt, a break in constitutional order and the entrenchment of power by an illegitimate regime in Venezuela is the root of a political, institutional, and humanitarian crisis which has led to an exodus of more than four million people,” he said.
“Peru will continue promoting initiatives to restore democracy in Venezuela in a peaceful process led by the Venezuelans themselves, and we will continue to condemn the regime’s egregious human rights violations,” he continued.
Chile’s Sebastián Piñera
Chilean President Sebastián Piñera blasted the regime as “a corrupt and incompetent dictatorship that does not respect human rights and freedoms and has undeniable links with drug trafficking.”
He added that the country’s economic predicament has led to “massive migration” of approximately four million people, and as such Venezuela has become “a cause that all of Latin America is committed to.”
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