Dominican Republic and Germany stop recognizing Guaidó as “interim president” of Venezuela

The government of the Dominican Republic informed on Wednesday that it does not recognize former deputy Juan Guaidó as “interim president” of Venezuela, after ending his functions as parliamentarian on January 5.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs reiterated that his country also does not recognize the Venezuelan National Assembly elected in last December’s elections, however, this government does recognize President Nicolás Maduro Moros as the nation’s President.

According to a report by EFE news agency, Álvarez stressed the importance of entering into a dialogue with the government headed by the President of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro.

“In the case of Venezuela we believe (that) a negotiation with the regime is needed. Even if you don’t like Maduro, he is the interlocutor, to negotiate you need two parties”, he said during an interview to the media Listín Diario.

However, according to the agency’s report, the head of the ministerial entity indicated that he does not recognize “the National Assembly”, elected last December 6, as established in the Constitution.

With this decision, the Dominican Republic joins the European Union (EU) in ignoring Guaidó as “president in charge”, after no longer having the privileges of deputy of the NA.

Last January 25, a communiqué sent by the European Union informed that Juan Guaidó will no longer be recognized as “interim president”, since according to the European foreign ministers, “the representatives of the opposition parties elected to the National Assembly of 2015, and especially Juan Guaidó, as well as the other representatives of the democratic opposition” will be considered only as “important actors and privileged interlocutors”.

German government also does not recognize him

This January 27, the spokesman of the German Foreign Ministry, Christofer Burger, announced that the German Government was assuming the recommendation of the Council of State of the European Union and withdrawing the recognition as “interim president” that they had granted to Juan Guaidó.

When questioned about the reason for this change in German foreign policy towards Venezuela, Burger argued that “the situation has evolved”.

This news was welcomed by the member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, German MP, Andrej Hunko, who revealed that “the Federal Government had urged that the recognition, which was contrary to international law, be maintained, but fortunately failed.”

“It is to be hoped that the EU will learn from the mistakes of the last two years. Instead of escalating, it needs to mediate in #Venezuela and direct all energy towards a political solution. This must also include putting an end to #sanctions, which are politically ineffective and socially devastating,” the MEP argued via his Twitter account.