The Government of Chile professes its deep disappointment with the Venezuelan Government for going forward today with the election of representatives for a National Constituent Assembly (NCA) without any guarantee of a democratic and universal voting process, or fulfilling the established requirements in the country's own Constitution. This illegitimate decision has exacerbated the division within Venezuelan society.
This act and eventual establishment of an NCA does not solve any of the political, economic and social issues and challenges that the Venezuelan government and society are facing today, starting with the most urgent, as it is relieving the humanitarian crisis.
The Government of Chile reiterates that the Venezuelan authorities have the responsibility to guarantee the safety and physical integrity of all its citizens and their right to protest and express their ideas peacefully.
The Government of Chile expresses its firm disapproval of the scaling existing violence and its preoccupation over the intensification of the crisis and the suffering of the Venezuelan people. This has lead Chile to take in two Venezuelan citizens that have requested the protection of our embassy.
The Government of Chile renews its readiness to cooperate, alongside with other countries of the region, in the search of instances and mechanisms that enables, as soon as possible, the onset of a believable and acceptable negotiation process that benefits all the involved parties, thus being able to restore the broken democratic order.