The Taoiseach said the Government’s position was that it had “never accepted the legitimacy of the Maduro regime”, but instead sought a peaceful transition to a democratic system.
Ousted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro is set to appear before a US court following his capture by US forces over the weekend, reports RTE.
He was detained during a military operation carried out on Saturday in Caracas, an event that has thrown Venezuela into a state of uncertainty.
Speaking in Beijing, where he is undertaking an official four-day visit to China, Micheál Martin described the Maduro administration in Venezuela as harsh and oppressive, reports RTE.
“It was a particularly brutal and repressive regime and that created its own challenges, particularly on the whole narcotics front and other activities, reports RTE.
“There were real issues there. That said, we wanted a peaceful transition from that regime to a democratic one that would be decided by the people of Venezuela,” Mr Martin said, reports RTE.
The Taoiseach also said Ireland would not scale back its relationship with the United States, stressing that “dialogue is key”.
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He added: “Engagement with countries all over the world is key, and we can never shrink back from that engagement, reports RTE.
“We export about 90% of what we produce all over the world, so we have to maintain relations and engage with different countries and that’s what we’ve been doing consistently, reports RTE.
“But we’ve also then consistently at international level advanced our values, our commitment to the international rules-based order, the peaceful resolution of disputes – and that will continue to be our position,” reports RTE.
After Mr Maduro’s capture, US President Donald Trump said his administration would seek to work with Venezuela’s current leadership to tackle drug trafficking and open up the country’s oil sector, rather than pushing for elections to install new leaders, reports RTE.
Venezuela’s acting president said yesterday that she was willing to cooperate with the United States on an agenda centred on “shared development”.
In a statement shared on social media, Acting President Delcy Rodriguez said her government was prioritising a shift towards respectful relations with Washington, after previously condemning Saturday’s raid as an illegal attempt to seize the country’s national resources, reports RTE.
“We invite the US government to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation oriented towards shared development within the framework of international law to strengthen lasting community coexistence,” Ms Rodriguez said, reports RTE.
“President Donald Trump, our peoples and our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war,” reports RTE.
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