By Kanishka Singh
Jan 8 (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday about the situation in Venezuela, and the two countries have affirmed their support for a “peaceful, negotiated, and Venezuelan-led transition process.”
The U.S. military seized ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife from Venezuela in a raid over the weekend and brought the two to New York.
“They affirmed their support for a peaceful, negotiated, and Venezuelan-led transition process that respects the democratic will of the Venezuelan people,” Prime Minister Carney’s office said in a statement about his discussion with Lula.
“The leaders emphasised the necessity for all parties to uphold international law and the principle of sovereignty.”
The U.N. human rights office has said the U.S. intervention in Venezuela was a violation of international law that made the world less safe.
Trump told the New York Times in an interview published on Thursday that the U.S. could oversee Venezuela and control its oil revenue for years.
Trump has decided to back Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, instead of Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado.
Carney spoke to the Venezuelan opposition leader on Sunday and his office said he thanked her “for her resolute voice on behalf of the Venezuelan people.”
Canada has been critical of Maduro’s government over reported human rights abuses in Venezuela and Carney called his removal from power “welcome news”, but Ottawa did not directly praise the U.S. military raid in the South American nation. Carney has also urged parties to uphold international law.
Lula has condemned Washington’s actions as crossing an “unacceptable line.”
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Tom Hogue)
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