López Obrador asked the United States to restore relations with Venezuela in the face of the current migration crisis.
The Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, asked the United States government this Friday to restore relations with Venezuela in the face of the crisis due to the increase in Venezuelan migrants.
(Mexico) will support everything, looking for agreements, for example, it is necessary to reestablish relations between the Government of the United States and the Government of Venezuela, ”said the president in his morning press conference.
His statements come after the plan that Washington implemented last week to grant 24,000 humanitarian visas to Venezuelans who arrive by air, but which include the expulsion to Mexico of Venezuelan citizens who arrive irregularly across the common border.
The Mexican president considered that “the decision made by the United States Government to grant these permits will help”, but he described it as “a first step, it is not perfect”, for which he urged more measures.
Although this October marked one year of the absence of formal dialogue between the Government of Venezuela and the opposition, since the parties suspended negotiations hosted by the Government of Mexico, López Obrador stated that he was “aware that they are already looking for an agreement.”
“There have been meetings in Mexico of the parties. Not from Venezuela and the United States, but from Venezuelans who are confronted, from representatives of the Government and representatives of the opposition, so these dialogues are good and that the situation in Venezuela is normalized, ”he indicated.
The Mexican president asked that “the situation in Venezuela and in all countries be normalized, and that it be the Venezuelans themselves who seek options, those who seek an alternative and that there is no interference from anyone.”
The United States measures against Venezuelan migration occur amid an increase in the arrival of Venezuelans at the border with Mexico, where between October 2021 and August of this year more than 150,000 Venezuelans were arrested, almost triple the 50 thousand 499 in the same period of the previous year.
Since the change in immigration policy, the Government of Mexico has stated that it has received “hundreds, not thousands” of Venezuelans expelled by the United States amid images of migrants stranded and sleeping on the streets due to uncertainty.
