ST. LUCIA-POLITICS- Foreign Affairs Minister says “in-house” solutions needed to Venezuelan crisis

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CASTRIES, St Lucia, May 12, CMC – External Affairs Minister Sarah Flood-Beaubrun says solutions to the current crisis in Venezuela need to be found ‘in house’ within the region.
Flood-Beaubrun told reporters Thursday that St. Lucia has been at the forefront of encouraging dialogue on Venezuela within the region to see how the issues facing the country can be resolved.
“That will be a key topic at the OAS (Organisation of American States) General Assembly meeting that comes up next month,” the minister explained.
She said there will then be an opportunity for the member states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to get together to talk about the issues.
“There are times when we need to put our heads together to talk and to come up with solutions.”
She explained that when persons are suffering, inaction is not an option.
According to Flood-Beaubrun, it is important that there is not ‘interference’ but dialogue and cooperation so that in the ‘ideal’ situation countries can find solutions ‘within themselves.’
She declared that there is urgent need for the situation in Venezuela to be resolved and St Lucia has serious concerns about what is happening in the South American country as it relates to human rights issues, security and the implications for democracy.
This amid amid reports that Venezuela is sinking deeper into crisis with high inflation, food shortages and deadly protests.
Flood-Beauburn’s concerns follows a plea made on the weekend by the Caribbean chapter of the International Network In Defense of Humanity for leaders within CARICOM to send a fact finding mission to “make an informed analysis” about the state of affairs in the “sister Caribbean nation”.
In a statement on Sunday, Coordinator of the Caribbean chapter of the International Network in Defense of Humanity, David A. Comissiong said it is important that the Governments and people of CARICOM acquire “an accurate understanding of precisely what is going on in Venezuela – a nation that the power United States of America has perversely designated as a “national security threat” to the USA.”
“We will never achieve any such accurate understanding iF we depend on Western media institutions for our information about Venezuela,” he added.
Comissiong also urged media houses in the English speaking Caribbean to send an investigative team to the South American nation to “see for themselves and to deliver to our people an independent and objective Caribbean assessment of the situation in Venezuela.”
He said the leaders of the Caribbean should “dig through the mass of lies and misinformation that the biased western news media routinely puts out about the situation in Venezuela and that we offer them our principled support and solidarity.”
For most governments in the region, the situation in Venezuela is one of concern, as the South American nation has had a long standing relationship with CARICOM member states.
In recent weeks anti-government protests have escalated as the opposition has called for early elections, the release of jailed activists and autonomy for the opposition led Congress.
The protests are also fueled by the crippling economic crisis in the oil rich nation of 30-million people.

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