The elected president of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, announced yesterday Tuesday that he will restore his country’s diplomatic relations with the government of Venezuela, clarifying that he has already informed his counterpart, Nicolas Maduro.

“I spoke with Maduro. I mentioned my will to restore relations with Venezuela,” the conservative president-elect said during a press conference in Asuncion, two days after winning the presidential election.

“I have a strong conviction that the peoples of Latin America must be united. This is not only a political issue, it is also an economic issue,” added the 44-year-old president-elect, who will take office in August.

“The example of other regions, such as Southeast Asia, makes us realize that countries with a higher degree of integration have greater prosperity. This makes sense from an economic, political and social point of view,” said Mr. Peña, referring in particular to the prospects for bilateral trade: “Paraguay is a large food producer. Venezuela has needs.”

The restoration of bilateral relations, however, “does not mean that we will be forced to remain silent when we have to defend human rights and the importance of free, transparent and inclusive elections”, emphasized the Paraguayan president-elect, former IMF executive and former finance minister.

Paraguay – where the Colorado party (right) has governed almost continuously for more than seven decades – severed diplomatic relations with Venezuela in 2019. It joined the so-called “Lima” group, made up of Latin American countries whose governments do not they recognized President Nicolas Maduro, in the context of the geopolitical isolation of Caracas, at a time when few countries, including Cuba, Russia and Iran, were considered his allies.

Outgoing Paraguayan President Mario Abdo welcomed opposition leader Juan Guaido, who declared himself interim president in 2019 with the backing of the US and the EU, in Asuncion after calling Mr Maduro’s 2018 re-election a “fraud”. , in a process from which the opposition abstained.

Colombia, where in the summer of 2022 the social democrat Gustavo Petro, the first president in the history of this country belonging to the left, took office last year restored its diplomatic relations with neighboring Venezuela, three years after they were interrupted.