Minister Roberto Ampuero after meeting of the Lima Group: "We Chileans feel a very great responsibility for Venezuela"

Foreign Minister Roberto Ampuero is in Mexico, where he participated in a new meeting of the Lima Group, along with the ministers and representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Finance of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Saint Lucia, as well as Spain and by videoconference with the United States Secretary of State and senior officials of the United States Treasury Department.

During the meeting, participants exchanged information, analysed possible scenarios and identified a series of actions that could be taken in the diplomatic, economic, financial and humanitarian fields, either collectively or individually, after May 20.

At the end of the day, the Secretary of State said that "the tragedy that the people of Venezuela are going through today is fundamentally due to the bad management of the Nicolás Maduro regime. This tragedy has taken on a hemispheric dimension and projection, and that gives us the legitimacy to express our opinion regarding what is happening".

He added that "it has been extremely moving to hear, again, the description of how hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Venezuelans are escaping from hunger, malnutrition, lack of food, lack of security, and the abuse of that Venezuela that we all knew as a deeply prosperous country".

He also recalled that "Chileans feel a great responsibility for Venezuela, because in difficult times in our country's recent history, they extended their hand of friendship and solidarity. That's why Chile, together with the Lima Group, is giving back by helping Venezuelans in this difficult, tragic and undeserved moment they are going through. Chile wants to contribute to the recovery of democracy in Venezuela".

He concluded by saying that "we urge the regime of Nicolas Maduro to listen to his people, to listen to the international community and to allow them to live in democracy, freedom and prosperity".