Venezuela

Baroness Hooper Excerpts

Tuesday 6th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

Certainly, any elections that are to be held must be free and fair and not any kind of repeat of what we saw the year before last. I take what the noble Lord says about the circumstances of the election of the now President Delcy Rodríguez, but I feel that we are very much in a transitional period right now and there needs to be a degree of pragmatism exercised here. This is one route that is being taken at the moment. Nobody wants to see a descent into a country being run even more than it has been by gangs and narco-terrorists; what we need is stability in order to then move forward through to some democratic process. Clearly, I hope that happens sooner rather than later, but it does need to be done safely in a way that means that the outcome is sustainable and that Venezuela can then move forward for the benefit of all its people.

[Baroness Hooper (Con)]

My Lords, I wish to follow up on the previous question, because it seems to me that it is very good news to know that we are in touch with the opposition parties. There has always been a problem in Venezuela about uniting the opposition parties and that is why they are in the position they are in at this moment. But in terms of having proper democratic elections in Venezuela, will it not be necessary to have contact with the acting President? Can the Minister confirm whether or not our Government have made any attempt to contact the new acting President of Venezuela?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I think I am right in saying, from the last time I spoke to our chargé in Caracas, that he has had contact with Delcy Rodríguez previously. I am not aware whether this contact has been re-established since the events of the weekend. It is only Tuesday, so it is quite possible that that has not happened. But should that be something which would be helpful in moving things forward in a stable way, then that is a role that the UK may be prepared to do, if that should be helpful.