Panama and the United States agree to seek a “joint solution” for Venezuela

Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino and his US counterpart, Joe Biden, agreed to seek a “joint solution” to the post-election crisis in Venezuela, the Panamanian presidency said in a statement.

The two leaders “held a telephone conversation this afternoon for approximately 11 minutes, during which they also agreed to explore a joint solution to the crisis in Venezuela,” according to Panama’s official statement.

In that telephone conversation, in which they discussed other issues such as the migration crisis, Biden defined President Mulino “as a ‘top partner’ (great ally) of the United States, and stressed that the figure of the Panamanian president ‘stands out’ in the region.”

Recognition

Biden, according to the Panamanian statement, recognized “the leadership of Panama and its president in the search for a solution to the crisis in Venezuela, while thanking President Mulino for Panama’s role in the framework of dialogue in the Organization of American States (OAS) and the United Nations.”

“Panama has a huge historical debt with Venezuela,” Mulino reminded his American counterpart.

Panama was one of the 17 governments that voted in the Organization of American States (OAS) on July 31 in favor of a resolution that asked the Venezuelan authorities to publish “immediately” the minutes of the Venezuelan elections, but which was not approved.

Mulino also proposed on August 8 that these 17 countries hold a summit to address the crisis in Venezuela following the presidential elections and the allegations of fraud following the proclamation of Nicolás Maduro as re-elected head of state.

Minutes

The opposition, for its part, has published on a website the minutes of the voting witnesses in “more than 80% of the tables” which show, according to the anti-Chavez movement, that its candidate Edmundo Gonzáles Urrutia won the elections by a wide margin, a result recognized by countries such as Panama, Argentina, the United States and Peru, among others.

This summit could be held “informally” in the Dominican Republic by some of the heads of state or government who will attend Luis Abinader’s inauguration in Santo Domingo next Friday for a second term.

Panama City / EFE