GEORGE­TOWN, Guyana –The Bu­reau of the Caribbean Com­mu­ni­ty (Cari­com) lead­ers has re­it­er­at­ed a call for “peace­ful di­a­logue” to en­sure sta­bil­i­ty in Venezuela, fol­low­ing the Unit­ed States’ in­va­sion of the South Amer­i­can coun­try and the de­ten­tion and ar­rest of its Pres­i­dent, Nico­las Maduro, on Sat­ur­day.

In a state­ment, the bu­reau, com­pris­ing St Kitts and Nevis Prime Min­is­ter Dr Ter­rance Drew, the Cari­com chair­man, Ja­maica Prime Min­is­ter An­drew Hol­ness and St Lu­cian Prime Min­is­ter Phillip J Pierre, said they met on Sat­ur­day to dis­cuss the sit­u­a­tion.

Cari­com had ear­li­er is­sued a state­ment in which it said it “is ac­tive­ly mon­i­tor­ing the sit­u­a­tion, which is of grave con­cern to the re­gion with pos­si­ble im­pli­ca­tions for neigh­bour­ing coun­tries.”