PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC—The President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Dennis Francis, has left open the possibility of the international body playing a role in diffusing the situation in Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner of the presidential election late last month.
The opposition parties have accused Maduro of stealing the July 28 poll and disputed the figures released by the National Electoral Council (CNE).
The opposition parties are supported by the United States and several Western countries, while Muduro has received congratulations from China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and some Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries.
Francis, who is also the Trinidad and Tobago ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters on his arrival here for a four-day visit that in diplomacy, there is always hope.
“That is what diplomacy is—dialogue. When people sit down and talk, you can never predict a priori (beforehand) where the discussion will go,” said Francis, who will be replaced as UNGA president by Philemon Yang of Cameroon, who will become the 79th UNGA president in six weeks.
“At the UN, hope is always something that is in our consciousness because dialogue can resolve conflicts. We have seen that over and over again. And the hope is that dialogue will take place.”
When explicitly asked if the UN might play a role in facilitating dialogue to resolve the Venezuela crisis, Francis replied, “Absolutely.
“That is part of the UN’s mandate. Where there is conflict, the UN assists and supports, sometimes provides good offices, sometimes provides mediation, but it also gets the parties together around the tables so they can confront the issues openly and frankly and come to some common understanding as to how they can be resolved.
“Anything that promotes peace is what the UN does and will support,” he said, adding that “there is never per se a time because every conflict is different” as to whether the UN was considering any timeline to get the parties to sit down and talk.
“Sometimes what is possible in one domain is not possible in others. So, it is not the timeline. It is the moment. It is recognising when it would be appropriate for that dialogue to occur. Of course, the dialogue will not happen unless all parties involved in the conflict – both parties – agree.”
Francis told reporters that any electoral situation that results in uncertainty, doubt, claims of impropriety, and fraud “is a matter of concern because the UN strongly promotes and supports the principle of democracy. It is the will of the people that must always prevail.
“I cannot say this situation in Venezuela is without concern. It has not yet come frontally to the table of the UN,” he added. Francis told reporters that while “it is always a pleasure coming home, “it is a particular pleasure on this occasion.”
He would not judge his tenure as the UNGA President for the past year, saying others best answered that question.
“I can’t assess myself. I mean, I can, but I shouldn’t. Of course, everyone wants to succeed, so that question is best posed to others. To the extent that the work is being done and has been done, it has been uneventful.
“Uneventful in the sense that nothing disruptive (has happened) to undermine the performance of the office of the president of the General Assembly. So, to that extent, it has been without accident.”
The Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs, which ends its official visit on Wednesday, will pay courtesy calls on the Acting President of Trinidad and Tobago, Nigel de Freitas, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley, and meet with Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Minister Dr. Amery Browne.
Before his departure, he will also visit the Woodbrook Secondary School, his Alma Mater.
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