Political crisis Venezuela and irregular emigration in the sights of Panama, Ecuador, Dominican Republic and Costa Rica

The foreign ministers of Panama, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica ratified their intention to continue supporting “the fight for freedom and democracy” in Venezuela, whose political crisis deepened after the July elections, as well as the need to continue the work to address the migration crisis from Latin America to the United States.

At the same time, the foreign ministers of the four nations, who make up the Alliance for Development in Democracy (ADD), reiterated at the end of last week their support for the opposition leader Edmundo González, whom they consider “the elected president” of the nation. South American.

“Let the democratic opposition in Venezuela know that we continue to vehemently support the fight for their freedom and for democracy,” said the Foreign Minister of Panama, Javier Martínez Acha, one of the promoters of the agreement signed by the four nations at the end of last week. .

“We want to further strengthen democratic opposition movements and have broad international support, as well as safe spaces so that we can talk about a peaceful transition,” he added.

The Panamanian foreign minister reaffirmed that it is key for the international coalition to be solid and highlighted that Brazil could play a transcendent role due to its weight on the continent. Martínez Acha assured that they will not give up fighting for the human rights of Venezuelans, which are the human rights of all Latin Americans.

“We cannot abandon Venezuela, that is a statement that the four foreign ministers present here defend. We want Venezuela to soon have the opportunity to live in peace with a democratically elected president,” emphasized the top Panamanian diplomat, who also mentioned possible sanctions on officials or isolation measures, but did not offer details of the strategy he is considering.

Edmundo González was unanimously chosen as a presidential candidate by the parties that make up the Democratic Unitary Platform, after they invalidated the leader María Corina Machado and her first proposal to confront Nicolás Maduro in the elections last July.

The National Electoral Council of Venezuela, without presenting minutes of the scrutiny, gave the victory to Maduro, but the opposition presented the minutes they compiled by virtue of which González would have won the elections with 67% of the votes of Venezuelans.

Countries such as ADD members recognize González as the elected president of Venezuela, as well as the governments of Argentina, the United States, Peru and Uruguay.

​Maduro has not acknowledged the eventual defeat and is preparing to take office for his second term on January 10.

González went into exile in Spain at the beginning of September.

However, leaders of the ADD and other countries insist that it is González who constitutionally should assume the presidency of the oil nation in January.

“Mr. Maduro is a losing candidate, he is a defeated candidate, and the president for Panama is Mr. Edmundo González,” said the Panamanian foreign minister.

During the meeting last Friday, the ADD foreign ministers also met with Venezuelan opponents Rafael de la Cruz and David Smolansky, to whom they ratified their support for democracy and the defense of human rights in Venezuela.

Along the same lines, the Foreign Minister of the Dominican Republic, Roberto Álvarez, reiterated that the declaration of the winner by the National Electoral Council of Venezuela is illegitimate and that he does not consider it valid until the true results are announced.

“The four countries represented here consider that election to be spurious, and we totally agree on that,” said Álvarez.

Irregular migration on the ADD agenda

During the meeting of the foreign ministers of the Alliance for Development in Democracy, based in Panama, the foreign ministers reviewed the group’s agenda aimed at strengthening the rule of law, democratic institutions, respect and protection of human rights and development sustainable, according to the document.

They also highlighted the importance of strengthening relations with the United States after the election on November 5 in which Donald Trump was the winner, at the same time that they expressed “their great dismay” at the crisis in Haiti marked by political instability and violence. of organized crime groups fueled by arms trafficking to the impoverished Caribbean island.

The agreement of the ADD foreign ministers includes political and economic aspects, as well as on investments, climate change and irregular migration.

They also advocated strengthening the relationship with the United States as the main partner in the region, but which is also the destination of a large part of Latin American migrants.

“The four countries here know the importance of the United States regardless of which party is in power. There is one thing that links us and identifies us in the common struggle, irregular migration,” highlighted Panamanian Foreign Minister Martínez Acha.

In 2023 a record number of more than half a million migrants crossed the Darién jungle on the border with Colombia, while until October of this year nearly 300,000 crossed.

In recent years, Panama has become a transit route for thousands of migrants who, in most cases, are heading to the United States. In fact, the president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, has said that the United States border is currently in Darién, referring to the escalation of migrant crossings through the jungle, which forced the country to ask for international help.

The new Panamanian government that took office on July 1 signed a memorandum of understanding that includes the repatriation of migrants by air, financed by the United States, but that for the moment has not included Venezuelan migrants because both countries maintain their relations suspended. diplomatic.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador, Gabriela Sommerfeld, recalled that in this sense there are cross-cutting issues between the countries in which “we are working, not only now because a change of administration is coming, but because we want to protect human beings,” she said. .

“We want to protect our citizens from internationally organized criminal groups that are also behind Latin American irregular migration, in some cases, and this is why there are programs that we are currently working on between different countries with the help of even United Nations organizations to have a better migration control,” added the Ecuadorian official.

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