Support for facilitation in Venezuela.

• Author: Conaway, Janelle
• Position: OAS

MORE THAN TWO months after Secretary General Cesar Gaviria began facilitating talks between the government and opposition in Venezuela, a six-nation Group of Friends met at OAS headquarters to discuss how to strengthen his efforts.

Brazilian foreign minister Celso Amorim, who chaired the January meeting, told reporters that he and his colleagues from Chile, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, and the United States agreed that "the problem in Venezuela is a problem of great urgency and that requires, therefore, that we act immediately." He said a delegation made up of the six countries' deputy foreign ministers or other high-level officials would visit Caracas within a week to lend support to the process Gaviria has been leading since last November.

Amorim said the Group of Friends of the Facilitation Process in Venezuela could devise proposals to help reduce tensions during the continuing negotiations between representatives of the government and opposition. He stressed that the countries respected Venezuela's sovereignty and recognized that "the solution to be found for the problems has to be found by the Venezuelan people themselves."

The Group of Friends was announced after several Latin American presidents concerned about the situation in Venezuela met in Ecuador, where they were attending the January 15 inauguration of President Lucio Gutierrez. Participants in the first formal meeting, in addition to Amorim, included U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell and the ministers of foreign affairs of Spain, Ana Palacio, and Portugal, Antonio Martins da Cruz. The undersecretaries of foreign relations of Chile, Cristian Barros, and Mexico, Enrique Berruga, also participated in the closed-door, two-hour meeting.

Venezuelan foreign minister Roy Chaderton addressed the Group of Friends, giving an overview of...