Abinader believes that issues concerning Venezuela can be discussed informally during his term in office

The President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, did not rule out on Monday the possibility of an “informal” discussion of the Venezuelan issue among some of the heads of state or government who will attend the presidential inauguration next Friday in Santo Domingo.

When asked during his weekly press conference about the possibility of holding a regional Venezuelan summit in Santo Domingo, an issue Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino spoke about last week, Abinader responded that he had not been invited “to the official meeting because the invitation was for the inauguration, and that’s what we are focused on.

But, he added, “when the majority of Latin American presidents gather, we do not exclude that this issue will be discussed informally by all but a subset of those who have commented on the Venezuelan elections.” “This will continue for a few weeks.”

On Thursday, Panama’s president said a regional summit he proposed to hold in his country to resolve Venezuela’s post-election crisis could take place this week, but Abinader’s inauguration would take place in the Dominican Republic, taking advantage of the presence of local leaders.

“That conference that I’m trying to have, we have confirmed that 6-7 presidents will go to Panama; however, all of us or almost all of us will meet next Thursday and Friday in the Dominican Republic for the second swearing-in of President Abinader, and maybe, with President Abinader’s permission, we can hold the conference there,” Mulino continued.

Moulino’s idea was that the 17 governments that voted in favor of a resolution at the Organization of American States (OAS) on July 31 calling on Venezuelan authorities to “immediately” release the election records would attend the meeting on July 28. Ultimately, the initiative did not succeed.

The countries that voted in favor of the resolution were Argentina, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, the United States, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Suriname and Uruguay.

After the July 28 election in Venezuela, the National Electoral Council (CNE) certified the victory of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, but much of the international community did not recognize this.