OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) – Canada will host the next meeting of the Lima Group on the Venezuela crisis, a senior government official told AFP Thursday.
No date has been set for the talks, but the official said on condition of anonymity that “sooner would be better given the escalating crisis in Venezuela.”
Most members of the Lima Group — a bloc of 14 Latin American powers and Canada — has urged Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down.
The country is in economic and political crisis, suffering shortages of food and medicine, and skyrocketing inflation.
Earlier, Venezuela’s powerful military threw its weight behind Maduro as the US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido pressed a direct challenge to his authority.
The death toll from days of street protests, meanwhile, jumped to 26.
© Agence France-Presse
