Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during his speech at the CELAC summit in September 2021. Where Uruguayan president Lacalle opted to become a mouthpiece of Washington, attacking Cuba and Venezuela. Photo: AP.
On Tuesday, November 15, the president of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, confirmed that he would appoint an ambassador to Venezuela. This comes after seven years of the absence of an Uruguayan diplomat of that level in Caracas. He made the statement at a press conference in Soriano department.
Without mentioning that he had recognized former deputy Juan Guaidó’s fake “interim” government and its fake diplomatic envoys to Uruguay, Lacalle Pou said, “The only thing we did was appoint an ambassador. We have an ambassador in Cuba. We have ambassadors in other countries. The military attaché never left [Venezuela].”
However, Lacalle emphasized that the decision to appoint an ambassador in Venezuela does not change his government’s position with respect to Venezuela, which, for him, is still a “dictatorship.” This decision does not imply a rapprochement between Montevideo and Caracas, or a recognition of President Nicolás Maduro.
“It is clear that it is a dictatorship,” the Uruguayan president said. “If Maduro does not change, I am not going to change my mind… What should be in Venezuela is democracy.” This is a repetition of the White House’s failed script that accuses Venezuela of being undemocratic and of Maduro being a “dictator.”
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According to the Uruguayan president, the reason behind the decision to appoint an Uruguayan ambassador in Caracas is to establish a “commercial” link. This is the president who years ago decided not to recognize Maduro as the constitutional president of Venezuela and instead supported the self-proclaimed “interim president” of Venezuela, former deputy Juan Guaidó.
It is widely known in Venezuela that Uruguay has a multimillion dollar debt with Venezuela regarding the oil it received from the country. A scandal erupted a few years ago, when Uruguayan officials leaked to the press that its government was in controversial negotiations with Guaidó to write off some of that debt. Now with the high price of oil in the international market, Venezuelans believe that this decision on the part of the Uruguayan government to appoint an ambassador is to get more oil at cheaper price.
When the press asked Lacalle why the appointment of the diplomat in Caracas was taking place at this time, he claimed that the decision had only been delayed due to bureaucratic reasons, since the country’s “a foreign service has a lot of work.”
Highest diplomatic level
There has been no Uruguayan ambassador in Venezuela since 2015, when Oscar Ramos, the then ambassador, retired. Diplomatic relations were kept at the charge d’affaires level since then.
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The current charge d’affaires is Carlos Bentancour, who took office in March 2022. In March 2023, he will reach retirement age according to the norms of the Uruguayan foreign service.
According to diplomatic sources cited by Uruguayan media, Lacalle Pou has already made a formal request to Miraflores, asking Caracas to approve the accreditation of Eber Da Rosa as the new ambassador.
If Da Rosa obtains the approval of Caracas, Lacalle’s proposal will be sent to the Uruguayan parliament for the appointment to be certified. Da Rosa’s formal appointment would be Montevideo’s highest diplomatic presence in Venezuela in over seven years.
Da Rosa is a Uruguayan politician, with no experience in the diplomatic career. He was a senator between 2010 and 2015, as well as mayor of Tacuarembó, a department in the northeast of Uruguay, for three terms: 1995-2000, 2000-2005 and 2015-2020.
Lacalle’s decision coincides with the approach that several countries in the region have recently adpoted regarding Venezuela, especially after the electoral turn to the left that has occurred in countries like Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia. All this coincides with the White House’s recent revisions in its approach to Caracas, brought about by the energy crisis.
(RT) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/MF/SC
