UN chief Antonio Guterres on Thursday appealed for dialogue to stop Venezuela’s political crisis spiraling out of control, after opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president.

“What we hope is that dialogue can be possible, and that we avoid an escalation that would lead to the kind of conflict that would be a disaster for the people of Venezuela and for the region,” he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“Sovereign governments have the possibility to decide whatever they want,” the UN secretary-general said on a Facebook Live broadcast from Davos.

“What we are worried (about) with the situation in Venezuela is the suffering of the people of Venezuela,” he said.

In a statement, Guterres’s office said he was also “concerned over reports of casualties in the context of demonstrations and unrest in Venezuela”.

Source: AFP