Colombia’s Duque says skeptical about Venezuela talks

Madrid, Sep 17 (EFE).- Colombia’s president Iván Duque on Friday said he was skeptical about the Venezuelan political negotiations currently taking place in Mexico.

Duque made the remarks during a conference organized by the Efe news agency and Casa de America on what was the second day of his official visit to Spain. The interview was chaired by Efe’s president Gabriela Cañas.

“I appreciate that there is an effort of democratic resistance on the part of the interim government to sit down with the dictatorship,” he told Cañas.

He clarified that his skepticism resulted from his belief that the crisis in Venezuela only had one solution.

“Let there be, as soon as possible, a transparent and safe presidential election with close international supervision, and which allows a regrowth of democracy and the end of the dictatorship in Venezuela.”

OPPOSITION TO MADURO, A STATE POLICY

Duque said his opposition to Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro was not down to “personal stubbornness,” given that it was also the policy of his predecessor, but that rather it was a “consistent and congruent position.”

“I think that giving validation to the dictatorship, at this moment, would only serve to strengthen it.”

The president described Venezuela’s migrant crisis, which has seen 6 million people leave the country — almost 30% of whom sought refuge in Colombia — as a “tragedy.”

Duque’s government proposed temporary protection status cards for the Venezuelan migrants in Colombia.