Paraguay and Panama promote a regional dialogue for democratic transition in Venezuela

The governments of Paraguay and Panama announced on Monday a joint initiative to open a channel of dialogue with regional leaders in favor of a democratic transition in Venezuela, in a context of intense public versions and crosses on international efforts after the capture of Nicolás Maduro.

In an official communiqué issued in Asunción, President Santiago Peña and his Panamanian counterpart, José Raúl Mulino informed that they held a telephone conversation and agreed to instruct their foreign ministries to coordinate, in the short term, an instance of regional dialogue on the process of democratic restitution in Venezuela.

The text argues that Venezuelans should be the ones to decide the future of their country and states that the process should include, from the beginning, the return of exiles and the release of political prisoners. Mulino also mentioned the impact of the Venezuelan crisis on Panama due to irregular migration and pointed out that more than 90% of the people registered in that flow were Venezuelan, a phenomenon which, he said, is beginning to reverse after the closing of routes to North America.

The foreign ministries of both countries announced that they will advance in the coordination of a virtual conversation between the presidents of the region who agree to participate in this initiative.

Clarín's version and the denial from the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs

At the same time, the Argentine newspaper Clarín published on Monday a report stating that President Javier Milei would have held a secret conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron to coordinate an international front in favor of the arrival of Edmundo González Urrutia to power in Venezuela, amid differences over the method used by the United States to capture Maduro.

González Urrutia, a career diplomat, won the elections against Maduro in 2024 thanks to the support of María Corina Machado, who did not participate in the elections because she was politically disqualified by the Chavista regime.

However, hours after the publication, the Argentine Foreign Minister, Pablo Quirno, denied the content of the article through 'X'.

Quirno said that the call between the presidents did take place, but maintained that "from the title onwards, the article is a compendium of inaccuracies" and asked the newspaper to "check the sources".

The clarification introduces a key nuance: the telephone contact is confirmed and it remains in doubt whether the inaccurate content denounced by Quirno is related to the details of the call or the substance of the article on the situation in Venezuela.

Relations between President Javier Milei and opposition leader María Corina Machado are very good, both are publicly considered allies. Also, Macron was one of the first state leaders to hail the operation to capture Maduro and publicly backed a transition led by the Venezuelan opposition.

For now, Machado, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, is not being considered by the White House to lead the political transition in Venezuela. According to President Donald Trump himself, the Venezuelan leader does not have, for now, the necessary backing to guarantee a transition to democracy.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, the CIA determined that a transition in Venezuela should be led by top regime officials. The agency concluded that the best positioned to cooperate with the White House is Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro's replacement. That intelligence report carried a lot of weight in Trump's final decision.