RIO DE JANEIRO ¨C South American foreign ministers gathered in Caracas on March 6 to address the poisoned relations between Venezuela¡¯s government and its opposition, a crisis that has roiled the Venezuelan streets and besieged President Nicolas Maduro.
The ministers¡¯ mission ¡ª to ¡°depolarize Venezuela,¡± according to Ernesto Samper, secretary general of the Union of South American Nations ¡ª is a noble one. But don¡¯t hold your breath. Unasur called an emergency meeting a year ago to try to build a bridge between the Palacio Miraflores and the opposition. The truce didn¡¯t last, and now Maduro has answered renewed protests with the Bolivarian boot and sometimes deadly force.
Some Latin leaders have publicly cooled to Maduro¡¯s belief there is a yanqui cabal in every shadow, which may be one reason the Caracas parley was convened without the usual Bolivarian fanfare.
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