United States Ambassador to Guyana, Nicole Theriot, has expressed her country’s disappointment over the majority of CARICOM nations not supporting a joint statement in support of democracy in neighbouring Venezuela, following that country’s elections over a month ago where both government and Opposition have claimed victory.

Speaking on the sidelines on an event recently, the U.S Ambassador noted that Guyana and Suriname were the only two CARICOM countries to sign onto the joint statement about democracy in Venezuela.

“Thats quite disappointing actually for us it seems very clear that to support democracy certain things need to be done with regard to the election and if those other countries chose not to sign on that is their right but we are quite disappointed,” the Ambassador said.

The U.S State Department has since released a joint statement with signatories from at least 20 countries. 

The statement condemned the repression of protestors and the violence which has claimed the lives of many Venezuelans since the elections.

“We urgently call on Venezuelans authorities to end the violence and release all those who have been detained, including opposition representatives. Furthermore, we request the immediate return of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to Venezuela to ensure the necessary conditions for it to fully carry out its mandate,’ the statement said.

The Venezuelan government has already expelled a number of diplomats from the country over their public statements questioning the elections.

The U.S Ambassador said the US is pleased that Guyana has shown courage to endorse the statement.

“The government of Guyana and Suriname signed on to that statement, its incredibly important to us that we are all together in defending democracy in this region and globally and it meant a lot to us to have those partners in the region—especially Guyana becoming a global leader, it meant so much to us and we hope that it would have an impact on President Maduro and his administration moving forward,” the U.S Ambassador stated.

The United Nations dispatched a mission to Venezuela following the elections, and has also called for democracy to be maintained in the country.

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