President Maduro said his meeting with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was “soulful”

President Maduro has called on the Indian guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to help solve Venezuela’s political crisis.

Mr Maduro invited Mr Shankar, who advocates meditation as a way to attain a life free of stress and violence, to an audience in the opulent surroundings of the presidential palace in Caracas.

The president, who has overseen one of the world’s worst economic collapses and is considered a dictator by most western governments, said that the two-hour meeting had been “beautiful, deeply spiritual, very soulful”. Wearing a traditional Indian shawl over his jacket, he described Mr Shankar as “a guru of peace and truths”.

In the same speech he criticised a recent UN report holding his government responsible for human rights abuses including thousands of extrajudicial