Latin American countries that until now demanded the immediate resignation without preconditions of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro are now considering a change of strategy.
In the absence of a military rebellion that they hoped would have ousted the Venezuelan strongman by now, several members of Latin America’s 14-country Group of Lima are considering teaming up with the European Union’s International Contact Group to explore negotiations with the Maduro regime for foreign-supervised free elections in Venezuela this year, well-placed diplomatic sources say.
The European-led Contact Group has been more open to the idea of talks with the Maduro regime to seek internationally-monitored elections in Venezuela.
“Our expectation that Maduro would be out of power in a short period of time didn’t materialize,” a well-placed Group of Lima source told me. “It may be time to look at other ways to achieve the same goal.”