Mexico, Uruguay Call Conference on Venezuela For Neutral Countries

The conference, announced on the website of the Uruguayan presidency, is due to take place on 7 February.

President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro.

(File Photo: IANS)

Mexico and Uruguay on Wednesday, 30 January, announced they would convene an international conference for countries and bodies with a "neutral position" to discuss the political crisis in Venezuela.

The two countries have not recognized the Juan Guaido, the head of the National Assembly legislature who has declared himself acting president in place of leader Nicolas Maduro.

The conference, announced on the website of the Uruguayan presidency, is due to take place in Montevideo on 7 February.

The statement said the two governments were responding “to a call from the secretary-general of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, to initiate dialogue.”

The announcement comes after the Venezuelan opposition rejected any solution to the crisis that leaves Maduro in power.

The two countries expect around 10 states and bodies to attend the conference but gave no details on which those might be.

The statement said they were “ready to work with those members of the international community... who want to employ diplomacy” to find a way out of the crisis.

Maduro has said he is ready to negotiate with the opposition but Guaido said any such dialogue would be a sham.