Mexico is calling on all sides to the Venezuelan crisis, including the external ones, to abstain from using force and to seek peaceful settlement instead, the Mexican Foreign Ministry said in a communique on Tuesday.
“The Government of Mexico deplores the violent clashes that erupted along the Venezuelan border on Saturday, February 23. Mexico again calls on all of the parties involved, both domestic and foreign, to categorically reject the use of force and to find a peaceful solution to the situation in Venezuela,” the communique read.
The ministry praised the the so-called Montevideo mechanism, which Mexico, Uruguay and the Caribbean Community proposed earlier in February to facilitate the peace process in Venezuela, as an option able to evolve into a strategic road map.
“Mexico reiterates its willingness to support and develop an effective diplomatic mechanism designed for the peaceful resolution of conflicts,” the communique read on.
The Montevideo mechanism envisages four stages: the immediate launch of a dialogue on the situation in Venezuela, the negotiation process, the drafting of an agreement and its implementation. The statement comes shortly after the Lima Group meeting’s participants on Monday asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to make an assessment of the situation in crisis-torn Venezuela, proposing that Venezuela’s partners help organise “free elections” in the country.
On 23 February, a truck with US aid caught fire during a failed attempt by alleged opposition protesters to cross the closed Colombia-Venezuela border on the Francisco de Paula Santander Bridge. Attempts to bring unauthorised aid into Venezuela, which was slammed by President Maduro as a ploy to oust him from power, led to clashes between Venezuelan police and protesters, prompting Caracas to sever diplomatic relations with neighbouring Colombia.