EU says military intervention in Venezuela must be avoided

The European Union on Monday urged countries to avoid any military intervention in Venezuela.

"We must avoid a military intervention," Maja Kocijancic, the spokeswoman for diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini, told reporters.

"What is explicitly quite clear, from our point of view, is that we need a peaceful political and democratic and Venezuelan-owned resolution of this crisis," she added.

"This obvisouly excludes the use of force." Venezuela's opposition leader and self-declared president Juan Guaido is in Bogota for talks with allies in the regional Lima Group of countries on measures to compel President Nicolas Maduro to leave office.

The EU reached its position at a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels last Monday.

On Sunday, Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borell told the Efe news agency: "We have warned quite clearly that we wil not support and we will firmly condemn any foreign military intervention.