France, Brazil and Colombia Seek to Break Venezuela Deadlock

The presidents of France, Colombia, Brazil and Argentina will meet with Venezuelan government and opposition negotiators on Monday, in a bid to find a way out of the nation’s political impasse.

The meeting, on the sidelines of a summit in Brussels, looks to find “long-lasting solutions” to crises in the region, including Venezuela’s, according to a statement from the press office of French President Emmanuel Macron.

Negotiations between the opposition and the government have been stalled since November, with President Nicolás Maduro recently rejecting the participation of EU observers for the 2024 presidential vote, raising further doubts of the possibility of a free and fair vote. The French presidency did not provide details on who else would attend the meeting.

EU leaders are seeking to reboot relations with Latin America in a competition for influence against Russia and China. The EU will help invest over €45 billion ($50.6 billion) in Latin America and the Caribbean until 2027, Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission, said ahead of the two-day summit.