Joint statement on Venezuela

We, the undersigned countries, assembled in Santo Domingo de Guzmán, make a strong appeal for sanity and reasonableness in Venezuela. At this crucial moment for Venezuela and the region, all social and political actors must exercise the utmost restraint in their public actions.

Acceptance and respect for the dignity and integrity of all people are the essential principles ensuring our nations live together harmoniously. We urge respect for democratic principles, and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Venezuelans and, in particular, for the right to demonstrate peacefully and to exercise freedom of expression. We are concerned to see that this is not the current situation in Venezuela. Reports of arbitrary detentions of Venezuelans without due process are alarming, and we call for immediate release of the detainees.

We express our profound rejection of the repression of demonstrators and the violence that has cost the lives of many Venezuelans in the post-election period. We urgently call on the Venezuelan authorities to stop the violence and release all the detainees, including representatives of the opposition.

We further request that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights be allowed to return to Venezuela as a matter of urgency, and we call on Venezuela to guarantee adequate conditions to ensure its mandate is carried out in full.

We also request that Venezuela, as a State party to the Caracas Convention on Diplomatic Asylum of 1954, comply with its provisions and issue the laissez-passers that will allow the six asylum seekers who remain in the official residence of the Argentine Republic to safely leave Venezuelan territory.

We note the preliminary report of the UN Panel of Experts on the Venezuelan presidential elections, which reveals that the Venezuelan National Electoral Council has yet to present the electoral records to substantiate the validity of the results announced on 2 August. We also note that a digital version of more than 80% of the electoral records has been published, showing a different result to that published by the Electoral Council. 

We therefore call for the immediate publication of all original records and the impartial and independent verification of these results, preferably by an international entity, to ensure respect for the will of the Venezuelan people as expressed at the ballot box. Any delay in this process calls into question the results officially published on 2 August 2024.

Our nations have used dialogue and understanding to resolve serious conflicts in the past. Today, more than ever, Venezuela must honour this legacy in order to recover peaceful coexistence, public security and political stability which, according to reports by the UN Human Rights Council's Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, are being threatened by Venezuela's own security authorities.

The current situation calls for broad, inclusive and good-faith dialogue to facilitate a political settlement that will foster national reconciliation, peace, public security and democracy in Venezuela. 

We pledge to support all efforts in this direction, always advocating a genuinely Venezuelan solution where democracy, justice, peace and security prevail.

Signatory countries in alphabetical order.