By means of a letter delivered this Wednesday in front of a painting honoring Simón Bolívar, the Venezuelan government raised its annoyance and rejection towards “the intervention of Costa Rica in its internal affairs.”
The document was delivered personally by Jorge Arreaza Montserrat, Venezuelan Foreign Minister and former Vice President of that country, to Danilo Ramírez González, Chargé d’affaires of the Republic of Costa Rica in Venezuela.
The dissatisfaction of the government of Nicolás Maduro comes after the support given by the Costa Rican authorities as a member of the Lima Group to not recognize the new government of the Venezuelan politician.
On Friday, through the then foreign minister, Lorena Aguilar, Costa Rica signed the declaration in which the country agrees to not recognize Maduro’s new term.
Costa Rica, consistent with its commitment to the promotion of democracy, the rule of law and aware of the need for the regime to fulfill all its human rights obligations in accordance with international human rights law and fundamental freedoms, joined the call from the international community to ask for the constitutional order to be restored in Venezuela,”
said the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry in a press release.
Costa Rican authorities believe the electoral process that led Maduro to stay in power is illegitimate because it did not have the participation of all political actors or independent observers.
Maduro is president of Venezuela since April 2013. Before that, during March of that year, he served a month as interim president after the death of Hugo Chávez Frías.
The Lima Group is comprised of 14 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Saint Lucia.
This Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry of Venezuela and the government of Maduro gave a term of 48 hours -through the letters delivered to the different countries- for the nations of the Lima Group to rectify “their positions” and the “interventionist attitude” that they assumed with the agreement.
The president of Venezuela refers to the ‘Cartel de Lima’ when he talks about the group of countries.