Discomfort in Brussels over the sending of the diplomatic mission in Caracas

This Thursday, following the ministerial meeting of the International Contact Group promoted by the European Union with European Latin American countries, a diplomatic mission set off for Caracas to "maintain contacts with all parties, including the main political forces, civil society, academics, the private sector and the church," a Community spokesperson told the Efe agency. This trip, according to the spokeswoman, takes place in the context of "efforts to promote minimum democratic conditions before the legislative elections".  

At the meeting of the International Contact Group, Borrell reported on the activities carried out with the authorities of the Caribbean country and the opposition, with the ultimate aim of meeting the conditions necessary for free elections. But the sending of this mission to Venezuela has not gone down well with members of the European People's Party, and also with members of the Renew Europe group for Latin America in Parliament, such as Citizens' member Jordi Cañas. In an interview with ABC, Cañas questions Borrell's attitude to the Maduro regime.  

The President of the Popular Group in the European Parliament himself, Manfreb Weber, expressed his "extreme concern" at the sending of this mission to "talk to the Maduro regime" and described them as "clandestine". "Legitimising the Maduro dictator and giving him a perspective of international normality in any way would be unacceptable," Weber said. The same newspaper claims that the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, was not aware of this mission and that the opposition leaders and Juan Guaidó were only informed when the delegation was already in the air across the Atlantic.  

This mission, led by the Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service, Enrique Mora, and the acting Director General for the Americas, Javier Niño, will be in the Caribbean country until Monday and they have not ruled out the possibility of meeting with Nicolás Maduro, in addition to those already agreed with ministers from his government. The so-called G4, as the four main opposition parties represented in the Venezuelan parliament are known, had asked Mr Borrell to act as intermediary with Mr Maduro's regime in order to agree on minimum conditions for their participation in the 6 December elections.  

Last week, the United Nations, through a report published by the 'Independent International Fact-Finding Mission of the United Nations on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela', "identified highly coordinated patterns of violations and crimes in accordance with state policies and part of a widespread and systematic course of conduct, thus constituting crimes against humanity," the text quoted.