Maduro said he would resume dialogue with the opposition in Venezuela
The Venezuelan government and the country’s political opposition agreed on Tuesday (17) to establish guarantees for the holding of the 2024 presidential elections and measures that they say protect the country’s national interests.
With this agreement, the US should begin to lift some of the economic sanctions imposed on Venezuela.
The country’s presidential election will take place in the second half of 2024, the election agreement says, and international observers will be allowed to monitor the vote.
Each side can choose its candidate according to its internal rules, but this agreement has not lifted the bans already imposed on some opposition figures including Maria Corina Machado, leader of the primaries to be held next Sunday that prevent them from holding Office. .
The opposition claimed that the bans imposed by the Auditor General were illegal. The US government rejected any obstacles to opposition candidates.
Nevertheless, the Venezuelan government was inflexible. Jorge Rodríguez, head of the government delegation, said in a press conference after the signing that in the event of a decision by the Supreme Comptroller of the Republic “you cannot run, I want to make that clear.”
The head of the opposition delegation, Gerardo Blyde, told Rodríguez that the deal could allow banned candidates to “regain their rights.”
This Tuesday’s meeting took place in Barbados. It was the first between the government and the opposition, the first in eleven months.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva praised the signing of the agreement on Platform X (formerly Twitter).
“I welcome the signing of the agreements to promote political rights and electoral guarantees and to ensure the vital interests of the nation between the government of Venezuela and the opposition in the country,” Lula wrote, highlighting the participation of Brazil and representatives of other countries.
Celso Amorim, Lula’s special adviser, was in Barbados.
The agreements are expected to provide some easing of U.S. oil sanctions.
The United States has long said it would lift some of the sanctions imposed on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government in exchange for democratic concessions from the president.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The aim of the negotiations is to find a way out of Venezuela’s long political and economic crisis.
Maduro, president since 2013, is expected to run for reelection but has not yet formalized his candidacy. His government banned prominent opposition members from running for office.
If the agreement between the government and the opposition is approved in Washington, US President Joe Biden’s administration is expected to announce a limited but significant easing of sanctions, according to US sources.
However, the US sources said any sanctions relief would be reversed if Maduro failed to fulfill his election commitments. Oil revenues are fundamental to the economy of Venezuela, an OPEC member country.
(Reporting by Deisy Buitrago and Vivian Sequera in Caracas and Matt Spetalnick in Washington)