Dominican Republic, US butt heads over Venezuela turmoil

Santo Domingo.-  Foreign minister Miguel Vargas on Sunday reiterated the Dominican Government’s conciliatory stance on Venezuela’s political crisis, stressing that “what it (the country) will never do is intervene in the internal affairs of a friendly nation.”

Vargas’ statement is in a letter to Patrick Dunn, commercial attaché of the US Embassy and interim head of the diplomatic mission, in response to an article by the US diplomat on the Venezuelan situation, published in Diario Libre.

Vargas said the Dominican Government will continue its position to find a solution to the crisis of a country “with which we have assumed the eternal commitment of gratitude.”

In response to Dunn’s article “Defense of democracy with diplomacy in Venezuela,” the Dominican official said his Government expresses solidarity with the Venezuelan people and urged all parties to seek a peaceful, democratic and comprehensive solution. “What we cannot and will not do is intervene in the internal affairs of a friendly nation…”

On Saturday Dunn said the Dominican Republic and the US “share a deep democratic tradition. I have had the opportunity to be present in the country as a diplomat during the Dominican elections and to have seen that democratic tradition in action. In contrast, in Venezuela today, the government of Nicolás Maduro has relentlessly and intentionally undermined the constitutional branches of government, fostering a humanitarian crisis.”