ST. PETERSBURG, June 6. /TASS/. Italy does not plan to change its stance on Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido under pressure from the USA, Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Manlio di Stefano told TASS on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
"Italy is cooperating with its traditional partners, including the United States, however, we reserve the right to make independent decisions in the interest of our politics and in the interest of different nations," he said, commenting upon the recent talks between US National Security Advisor John Bolton and Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi di Maio. "This is why we want to resolve this issue ourselves."
The diplomat noted that the main goal of Italy regarding the Venezuelan crisis is to avoid the escalation of tensions and to reach political dialogue. "Due to its position, Italy has become the leader of an all-European movement that wishes to avoid the self-nomination of Guaido as president and open up a political way of resolving the issue. We have managed to establish a European contact group to facilitate the meetings between government representatives and the National Assembly of Venezuela," he said.
"We hope that the United States will support this approach and invite the Russian side to support it as well. In our opinion, this is the only peaceful path to the upcoming election," Di Stefano said.
Juan Guaido, Venezuelan opposition leader and speaker of the National Assembly, whose appointment to that position had been cancelled by the country’s Supreme Court, declared himself interim president at a rally in the country’s capital, Caracas, on January 23. On the same day, the United States recognized him as an interim president, and the countries of the Lima Group (excluding Mexico) and the Organization of American States followed suit. Venezuela's incumbent President Nicolas Maduro blasted the move as an attempted coup and announced cutting diplomatic ties with the United States. Italy refused to recognize Guaido as a legitimate president.
Most European Union member states recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president. Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Syria and Turkey voiced support for Maduro.
The 2019 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is being held on June 6-8. The forum’s motto this year is "Creating a Sustainable Development Agenda". The organizer for SPIEF-2019 is the Roscongress Foundation. TASS is a media partner, the official photo hosting agency and the operator of SPIEF’s presentation zones with support from multinational firm EY, and the Foreign Investment Advisory Council in Russia.