Harris reaches Uruguay for conference on situation in Venezuela

The Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) – Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis – and members of his CARICOM delegation touched down early Wednesday morning in Montevideo, Uruguay after a nine-hour flight from Miami.

This afternoon, the Uruguayan Foreign Minister, Rodolfo Nin Novoa, is hosting the CARICOM and Mexico delegations at a welcome luncheon ahead of tomorrow's international conference in the Uruguayan capital.

The international conference, according to a statement, will strive to establish the basis for a new dialogue mechanism that includes all the political forces in Venezuela, in order to help restore peace in that country.

In a recent column for EurActiv, Vice Minister for Latin America and the Caribbean in Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maximiliano Reyes writes, "Moreover, in response to the call of Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, Mexico, Uruguay and CARICOM, driven by our legitimate interest and willingness to help the Venezuelan people and the actors involved to find a solution to their differences, propose the creation of a concertation mechanism. We hope that this effort will be a shared one in order to advance together and reach a peaceful resolution of the current dispute in Venezuela."

Reyes also writes that, "The Montevideo Mechanism does not weaken regional multilateralism but rather strengthens it, by creating a constructive angle of discussion with the clear conviction that democracy is a process inherent to its people: free of interference but fully compliant to the rule of law and human rights."

Prime Minister Harris said last week in an interview with the St. Kitts and Nevis Information Service and ZIZ TV that, "What we are saying is let us create the environment in which all that is good could come out of that environment, and let the people – not external parties like us or any other body – determine what it is the people of Venezuela genuinely want."

The Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis added, "Let us use long-established principles and practices to assist them in getting where they determine is in their best interest to go."

The St. Kitts-Nevis delegation accompanying Prime Minister Harris to Uruguay comprises the Premier of Nevis, the Honourable Mark Brantley who is Minister of Foreign Affairs, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Kaye Bass, and Press Secretary, Ms. Valencia Grant.