Colombia said it would back a plan for Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro to hand over power to a transition government tasked with organizing new elections.
Maduro might consent to the proposal if guaranteed that he would be safe from persecution, Colombia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Rosa Villavicencio said.
“Maduro would be inclined to accept it,” Villavicencio said Wednesday, in an interview in Madrid. “He could leave without necessarily ending up in prison, someone else could come in to lead that transition and allow for elections that are legitimate.”
Venezuela’s Information Ministry didn’t immediately reply to a request for comments.
Colombian leftist president Gustavo Petro and Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva have called for new Venezuelan elections after the 2024 vote was widely condemned as fraudulent. A safe exit plan for Maduro could now be “the healthiest option” but would require backing from the Venezuelan opposition, Villavicencio said.
Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump threatened to target suspected drug cartel targets on land in Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico. Since September, US forces has been blowing up drug-running boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, killing more than 80 people.
Colombia has warned that a US attack on Venezuela could trigger another exodus of migrants. About 8 million Venezuelans have fled their country over the last decade, and nearly three million of them live in Colombia, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
“An intervention could trigger a humanitarian crisis that would be very difficult to manage,” Villavicencio said.
Since August, the US has deployed warships and aircraft to the southern Caribbean, stoking fears of an attack on Venezuelan soil.
Bogota was until recently a strong ally of Washington, but relations have soured badly since the start of Trump’s second term. The US leader has called Petro a “lunatic” and an “illegal drug leader,” slashed aid and revoked his visa. Villavicencio said she would renounce her visa in solidarity with Petro.
Villavicencio met with the Spanish Foreign Affairs minister, José Manuel Albares, on Tuesday to renew both nations’ sustainable development framework.
— With assistance from Andreina Itriago and Oscar Medina
Posted by Bibbity_Boppity_BOOO
4 Comments
I would absolutely support Maduro living a cushy life in exile if it meant freeing Venezuela of his tyranny for free. Maduro was open to this idea but he wanted to do it over “three years” I think. Which incidentally would align with the 2028 election season
This is genuinely a great idea if it means free and open elections return to Venezuela.
So, Maduro gets to live out his life in peace and luxury as a reward for helping to drive Venezuela’s economy into the ground and causing a fifth of the country to flee the country? I really don’t like these negotiated exile settlements, because it’s a signal to the next wannabe dictator about how they can essentially “win the game”. If a dictator has to live out their life in exile, I’d prefer it to be along the lines of Yanukovich or Assad: desperately fleeing for some shithole refuge country in front of the troops/police that are closing in.
Mexico would probably take him in