Mediation OK’d

Brazil and Argentina will work together to help find a solution to Venezuela’s political crisis, Brazil’s acting foreign minister said Monday.

Venezuela is facing a severe economic crisis, with the world’s highest inflation and shortages. Polls indicate most Venezuelans want President Nicolas Maduro out of office.

“We’re on alert when it comes to Venezuela. Brazil and Argentina have an interest that includes mediation,” Brazilian Foreign Minister Jose Serra said at a news conference after meeting with Argentine President Mauricio Macri.

It was Serra’s first official trip since being appointed after Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was suspended pending an impeachment trial.

“Venezuela is facing a critical situation,” Serra said. “We want to find a path toward reconciliation.”

Argentine FM Susana Malcorra earlier welcomes Serra before a working meeting at the San Martin Palace in Buenos Aires.

Brazil also has been facing a political crisis as well as rising inflation and lower prices and waning demand for exports of its commodities.

Economic ties between Brazil and Argentina, the continent’s two largest economies, have been hit by Brazil’s worst recession in decades. The gross domestic product of Argentina’s top trading partner shrank 3.8 percent last year and Argentine exports to Brazil plunged.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan authorities freed congressional president Henry Ramos’ head of security on Monday after he was arrested last week on allegations of masterminding the beating of police officers, the opposition said.

President Nicolas Maduro’s government had accused Coromoto Rodriguez of paying a group of youths who attacked three officers, including at least one woman, with their fists, stones and sticks during last week’s opposition rally in Caracas. (Agencies)

‘Join grave exhumations’:

A human rights group urged Indonesia to involve forensic experts in exhuming mass graves