BRUSSELS: The EU has urged all sides in Venezuela to abstain from violence and seek a political solution as the death toll mounts in clashes between the government and opposition.
Protests against leftist President Nicolas Maduro demanding early elections have left 38 dead since April 1, with many hundreds wounded and arrested.
The EU said all parties should work toward a settlement which would allow “the establishment of an electoral calendar.”
Mediation efforts have got nowhere, polarization has increased, and the economic and social situation in the country has got worse, said a statement approved by European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels.
“Violence and the use of force will not resolve the crisis in the country,” it said.
“The fundamental rights of the Venezuelan people must be respected, including the right to peacefully demonstrate.”
A government decision to “expand and further strengthen armed civilian groups is worrying as it can fuel further violence and does not contribute to a solution,” it added.
The statement also recalled that there were more than 600,000 European citizens in Venezuela and the EU was ready to work with the government to help them and to assure their protection and security.
Venezuela’s opposition earlier urged the armed forces to consider dialogue, despite its loyalty to Maduro in the country’s political crisis.
“I am appealing to Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez to open the doors of a sincere debate in the armed forces,” said Julio Borges, the speaker of the National Assembly, the only opposition-led government body.
Opposition leaders believe Maduro and some of his supporters met this week with Padrino Lopez to rally support for his plan to convene a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution.
“If (key supporters and) Maduro have the right to give a partisan argument to the military on the chaos Venezuela is going through, we ought to have that right as well,” Borges argued.
Elected in 2013, Maduro, the handpicked successor of the late long-time leftist firebrand Hugo Chavez, is resisting pressure for an early vote, calling the crisis the result of a US-backed conspiracy. His opponents have branded him a dictator.
Protesters also oppose his plans to elect an assembly — and do it sidestepping the country’s political parties — to overhaul the constitution, dismissing it as a way to put off elections.
Increasingly violent near-daily protests that began April 1 have left a toll of 38 dead, and hundreds wounded and under arrest.
Dozens of mothers dressed in black were out on Caracas’s streets Sunday to mark a Mother’s Day of protest, hours after violent unrest in the towns of Caja Seca and Pueblo Llano.
Protests against leftist President Nicolas Maduro demanding early elections have left 38 dead since April 1, with many hundreds wounded and arrested.
The EU said all parties should work toward a settlement which would allow “the establishment of an electoral calendar.”
Mediation efforts have got nowhere, polarization has increased, and the economic and social situation in the country has got worse, said a statement approved by European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels.
“Violence and the use of force will not resolve the crisis in the country,” it said.
“The fundamental rights of the Venezuelan people must be respected, including the right to peacefully demonstrate.”
A government decision to “expand and further strengthen armed civilian groups is worrying as it can fuel further violence and does not contribute to a solution,” it added.
The statement also recalled that there were more than 600,000 European citizens in Venezuela and the EU was ready to work with the government to help them and to assure their protection and security.
Venezuela’s opposition earlier urged the armed forces to consider dialogue, despite its loyalty to Maduro in the country’s political crisis.
“I am appealing to Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez to open the doors of a sincere debate in the armed forces,” said Julio Borges, the speaker of the National Assembly, the only opposition-led government body.
Opposition leaders believe Maduro and some of his supporters met this week with Padrino Lopez to rally support for his plan to convene a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution.
“If (key supporters and) Maduro have the right to give a partisan argument to the military on the chaos Venezuela is going through, we ought to have that right as well,” Borges argued.
Elected in 2013, Maduro, the handpicked successor of the late long-time leftist firebrand Hugo Chavez, is resisting pressure for an early vote, calling the crisis the result of a US-backed conspiracy. His opponents have branded him a dictator.
Protesters also oppose his plans to elect an assembly — and do it sidestepping the country’s political parties — to overhaul the constitution, dismissing it as a way to put off elections.
Increasingly violent near-daily protests that began April 1 have left a toll of 38 dead, and hundreds wounded and under arrest.
Dozens of mothers dressed in black were out on Caracas’s streets Sunday to mark a Mother’s Day of protest, hours after violent unrest in the towns of Caja Seca and Pueblo Llano.
