Venezuela held presidential elections on July 28th and a third successive win by Nicolas Maduro is being questioned and it has caused the country to erupt into protests.
The Opposition Party and various Latin American Countries, such as Mexico and Colombia, have refused to recognize the victory. The elections have been surrounded by allegations of foul play, and there are claims that it was neither the free nor fair process that Maduro promised.
With some countries in the region already calling for an audit of the election results, today the media asked the Foreign Minister what Belize's stance is.
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"There was a resolution that was proposed before the Organization of American States. Belize abstained in terms of that resolution because we really want to get more information, we're not satisfied that we've been provided with sufficient, reliable information so we join with those who are saying we need more transparency, we need more information provided, more data provided. So far the Venezuelan government has said that they will provide that data and information. We expect them to do so so we are prepared to wait for that to be done, a reasonable time period, but again, when we're dealing with these issues, we have always found in Belize that it's best for us to work through the organizations that we belong to like CARICOM and SICA, so we've discussed this matter at the CARICOM level, not yet at SICA but at the CARICOM level we've discussed this matter, obviously there are different points of view but the great majority of the CARICOM countries abstained in term of that resolution for the very reason I stated that they need to see more information, they need to have more data presented to them. We are absolutely committed in CARICOM and as Belize to ensuring that there are free and fair elections in Venezuela, that's critically important. That's the foundation of any democracy, free and fair elections. So that must be the standard and so we're going to wait a reasonable time, we're going to work with CARICOM to get more information, more data, and then we will make a decision in terms of our future position in the next few days."
Reporter:
"Based on our decision how do you see our diplomatic ties with Venezuela panning out?"
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"I mean it will all depend on what happens on the actions of the government of Venezuela over the next few days and weeks. If they do what they say they are going to do, which is to be completely transparent, to produce all the records from the voting, to provide the data in an open, transparent manner to the public, to the press, to observers, then we will be guided by that. If they do not do that then we will have to have our own discussion here in Belize and also in CARICOM and SICA."
And following Madura's re-election, there is expected to be another surge of Venezuelans leaving the country, mostly heading north - through the Central American Isthmus. We asked Fonseca if this has raised concerns.
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"We had a discussion about that in CARICOM recently and certainly internally, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs we've had that discussion so you know it's certainly something we're discussing and we're looking at. You're absolutely right, that is the expectation that we could see hundreds of thousands if not millions of Venezuelans leave that country and that's always something that we have to be on the alert for and be prepared for because many of them try to pass through Belize as well so it's definitely something we're looking at and making sure that we are prepared to deal with."
