Duque urges action against Venezuelan ‘dictatorship’
Colombian President Ivan Duque has stressed the need for international action to halt Nicolas Maduro’s “dictatorship” in Venezuela, which he blames for a “massive humanitarian crisis” and a migration wave.
“The real cause of this migration shock is the dictatorship,” the right-wing leader said. “We must use all the diplomatic mechanisms, all the multilateral mechanisms available to allow this dictatorship to end.”
Duque, who has been in power since August 7, arrived on an two-day official visit to France yesterday. He took part in yesterday’s Forum for Peace organised by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Duque urged the need for countries worldwide to fight drug trafficking, in a wide-ranging interview that also touched on peace talks with Colombia’s last active guerrilla group and the election of an extreme-right leader in Brazil.
Duque accused Maduro — leader of Venezuela, where economic woes began in 2014 with the crash in the price of crude — of “clinging to power and exacerbating patriotic feelings in his favour.”
Maduro’s government has been slapped with a range of sanctions over its crackdown on the opposition and civil society critics.
The Colombian president said its neighbour’s “huge humanitarian crisis” is leaking over the border: “We have received nearly a million migrants in less than two years.”
“Colombia is facing a difficult situation,” he said, calling on the international community to help with “significant means to face this challenge.”
He echoed the need for international co-operation on the issue of drug trafficking: “All countries of the world must strengthen their policies to prevent consumption,” he said.
“The fight against drugs must be a shared struggle.”
Illegal coca plantations in Colombia reached record levels last year following a 17% increase from 2016 to around 423,000 acres, according to the United Nations.
Colombia, the world’s leading producer of cocaine, is just emerging from over a half century of civil war waged by guerrillas, paramilitaries, armed forces and drug traffickers.
Asked about 2016’s peace agreement between the ex-rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), now a political party, and the government, Duque emphasised that he “never campaigned saying that we are going to destroy the agreements.”
Duque has vowed to fix “flaws” in the agreement negotiated by his predecessor, Nobel Peace Prize winner Juan Manuel Santos.
He has in particular criticised the Farc deal as being too lenient in allowing former rebels accused of atrocities to serve as lawmakers.
Duque said the “most important issue is... to ensure that those holding political representation mandates, tried by transitional justice and whose human rights violations are upheld, receive proportionate sentences and leave political office.”
Concerning Colombia’s last active guerrilla rebels, the National Liberation Army (ELN), Duque reiterated his position that he is “ready to sit down and speak with them if, and only if, they release all the hostages” and halt all criminal activities.”
“If that does not happen, we will have to act...firmly” he continued. “In a dissuasive and offensive way.”