UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the United Nations will not join any group of nations promoting initiatives to resolve the crisis in Venezuela, indicating he will not attend a meeting of several countries in Uruguay this week.
Mexico and Uruguay had hoped that Mr. Guterres would attend a conference in Montevideo on Thursday aimed at promoting dialogue between Venezuela’s self-proclaimed President Juan Guaido and leader Nicolas Maduro.
Mexico and Uruguay have not recognized Guaido, the head of the National Assembly who declared himself acting president on January 23 in place of Maduro.
A group of Latin American and European states are to hold their first meeting of a contact group in Montevideo on Thursday.
The contact group comprises of the EU and eight of its member states – France, Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden – and four Latin American countries: Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Uruguay.