Catholic World News

Venezuelan bishop: international pressure needed to prod government to end crisis

April 28, 2017

A Venezuelan bishop has said that international pressure is needed to prod his country’s government into accepting a peaceful solution to the current political impasse.

Bishop Enrique Perez Lavado of Maturin, in a radio interview during a visit to Spain, said that “there is a need of pressure at very high levels—perhaps extreme—in order to find a democratic solution.”

The bishop said that Church leaders in Venezuela support the protesters who have demonstrated all across the country—“not only in Caracas,” he pointed out, “but also in Maracaibo, Valencia, Barquisimento, Merida, San Cristobal, and other cities”—to protest the deteriorating conditions and the failure of the government to allow elections.

However, the government of President Nicolas Maduro continues to resist calls for negotiations with the opposition, leading to democratic elections. The Venezuelan government has now withdrawn from the Organization of American States (OAS), after a meeting of OAS foreign ministers was called to discussion the “deep concern” about the crisis in Venezuela.

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