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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government and leaders of the U.S.-backed opposition signed an agreement Tuesday pledging to hold competitive presidential elections next year. This agreement is intended to pave the way for the US to ease oil sanctions against the authoritarian state.
The agreement was a breakthrough in Venezuela ongoing political stalemate. Maduro, who claimed victory in a 2018 election that was viewed as fraudulent by the United States and others, promised to allow all parties to select their candidates and allow European Union and United Nations missions to observe the vote and to provide all campaigns with fair access to the media. His government said the presidential election would take place in the second half of 2024.
The government has not promised to lift the bans that now prevent some opposition candidates from running.
management Government and opposition representatives formalized the agreement in Barbados at an event organized by the Norwegian government with US representatives in attendance.
After the deal is finalized, the Biden administration is expected to announce that it will lift some sanctions against Venezuela’s state-controlled oil industry, two people familiar with the talks between the countries told The Washington Post ahead of Tuesday’s meeting. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the agreement. Sanctions relief could include a general license for American companies to resume doing business in Venezuela.
Any sanctions easing would likely be reversed if Maduro did not hold up his end of the agreement, according to a person familiar with the talks. It was unclear whether the agreement could also lead to the release of political prisoners in Venezuela.
The US is easing sanctions on Venezuelan oil to allow freer presidential elections
National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez, who signed the agreement on behalf of the Maduro government, called it a “first step toward the gradual lifting of sanctions.”
“In the next few days we will be able to see some results,” he said.
“By signing these agreements, we are taking the first step towards the complete lifting of all sanctions,” Maduro tweeted on Tuesday.
Tuesday’s deal follows the failure of several attempts at negotiations between Maduro’s government and the opposition. There are just days left until Venezuela’s opposition parties hold a primary to elect a single candidate to back against Maduro next year. The clear leading candidate is María Corina Machado, a harsh government critic who has been banned by the Maduro government from running for office. US officials had condemned the ban.
The exclusion of opposition candidates, including Machado, was a key point of discussion leading up to the agreement. Many had hoped the deal would include a commitment to lift all bans on candidates.
Ultimately, the agreement promised to authorize the participation of all presidential candidates “provided they meet the requirements established for participation in the presidential election, in accordance with the procedures established by Venezuelan law.”
Following the signing of the agreement, the Unitary Platform – the coalition of opposition negotiators in Barbados – released a statement assuring that the parties had agreed on a “pathway for the banned and political parties to quickly regain their rights “. However, Tuesday’s agreement does not specifically mention how this will happen.
Rodríguez clarified during a press conference after the signing that “if you receive an administrative suspension… you cannot run.”
Venezuela’s Supreme Court said in August that it would not review Machado’s ban from running in future presidential elections.
Geoff Ramsey, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who focuses on Venezuela, said Maduro was “opening a window.”
“Now the opposition, with the support of the international community, must try to completely break this window,” Ramsey said.
U.S. officials said they would consider easing sanctions if Maduro allowed free and fair presidential elections. The Trump administration and the Maduro government broke off diplomatic relations in 2019. But after Russia invaded Ukraine last year, the Biden administration sought to drive a wedge between Caracas and Moscow while securing access to a new oil source.
Venezuela has the largest proven crude oil reserves in the world, but its state oil company PDVSA is hampered by government mismanagement and U.S. sanctions.
U.S. officials made a rare trip to Caracas last year to meet with the government. Maduro later released six Citgo executives held since 2017, five of them U.S. citizens, and the Biden administration granted Chevron a license to resume oil production in Venezuela – while trying to push Maduro into competitive elections.
Resuming oil trade with Venezuela would be a dramatic step after Washington’s years-long high-pressure campaign of crippling sanctions failed to oust Maduro from power or resolve the political crisis. The US significantly tightened sanctions in early 2019 after declaring Maduro’s 2018 victory illegitimate.
In the meantime For years, Maduro has consolidated his power and won recognition from foreign governments even as the International Criminal Court investigates him on allegations of crimes against humanity. A US federal court has charged him with drug terrorism.
Maduro allowed the European Union to oversee elections for local and regional offices in 2021. In their report, the monitors noted several obstacles to a fair vote, including the arbitrary disqualification of political opponents and the partisan use of state resources Election campaign, unequal access to the media and lack of independence of the judiciary.