UNASUR to deliver economic proposal to Venezuelan government

Ernesto Samper, secretary-general of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), vowed Friday that the bloc would present a proposal to Venezuela in order to help address the country's unsettled economy.

Writing on Twitter, Samper said he had arrived in Caracas to also help dialogue between the Venezuelan government and the opposition.

"We will present to (president) Nicolas Maduro...an economic proposal...coordinated by (former Dominican Republic president) Leonel Fernondez," he wrote.

UNASUR's efforts to broker negotiations in Venezuela are led by Fernandez, as well as Martin Torrijos, former president of Panama, and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the former Spanish prime minister.

The three men have been seeking to help a rapprochement between the government of Maduro and the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) since May.

However, their efforts have not been fruitful so far since an initial summit between the two sides held in the Dominican Republic on June 5-6 was boycotted by the MUD.

UNASUR, which is comprised of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela, is insisting that a resolution to the Venezuelan crisis must come through dialogue and not through outside interference.

source : xinhua