A European Council office in Brussels was used for a very rare meeting between the government and the Venezuelan opposition this Monday evening. With five European and Latin American leaders as guarantors, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez and the head of the opposition Plataforma Unitaria delegation, Gerardo Blyde, met face-to-face in a conversation urging them to resume dialogue for the 2024 presidential election, a process this must coincide with the lifting of economic sanctions against the South American country, they said. On the table is the message to the Maduro regime that the EU could progressively ease its political harshness – Brussels has imposed sanctions, but few and well targeted – if there is democratic progress.
The meeting, closed to the press and held during the Summit of the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), was attended by the Presidents of Colombia, Gustavo Petro of Argentina, Alberto Fernández of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and France, Emmanuel Macron, and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell.
“The heads of state and the High Representative have encouraged the Venezuelan government and the united opposition platform to resume dialogue and negotiations within the framework of the process in Mexico in order to agree, among other things, on the terms of the next elections,” read a joint Statement by President Macron.
According to the text, to which EL PAÍS had access, the participants called on the government and the opposition to resume negotiations in order to “organize the elections under equal conditions for all, transparent and inclusive, allowing the participation of all who wish to do so wish, and who respect the law”. .” , international treaties in force and with international support. This process must be accompanied by a lifting of all types of sanctions with a view to full lifting.”
The final declaration of the CELAC and EU summit includes a point, adopted unanimously, calling on Venezuela to “engage in a constructive dialogue between the parties in view of the negotiations in Mexico City”.
According to a source present at the meeting, the meeting lasted two hours. The possibility was discussed that the EU could support lifting sanctions against Venezuela if Maduro provides for a fair electoral process with guarantees and other gestures such as the release of political prisoners, European diplomatic sources point out. Although it is the United States that has imposed the most restrictive measures on Caracas. Central to claims that Maduro is facilitating the holding of next year’s elections, an election the development of which is worrying after the Office of the Comptroller General disqualified opposition candidate María Corina Machado, who led the polls.
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This decision, which prevents Machado from taking part in the primaries that will decide who will run against Maduro, was condemned by the European Parliament this month, prompting Venezuela to declare that it would not accept European observation of the presidential election.
At the meeting this Monday in Brussels, Fernández, Lula, Petro and Borrell expressed their solidarity with the host countries of the millions of Venezuelans who have been forced to leave their country amid a political and humanitarian crisis in recent years. Leaders also welcomed the signing of a social agreement in Mexico on November 26 last year and urged it to be implemented as soon as possible for the benefit of the Venezuelan people.
The last official meeting between the government and the opposition took place in Mexico last November, where they signed an agreement envisaging the creation of a fund, administered by the United Nations, to address the country’s most pressing problems.
According to the communiqué of the French Presidency, the participants of the meeting agreed that the resumption of relations between the EU and CELAC is an opportunity to search together for a solution to the Venezuelan crisis and propose to meet again at the Peace Forum in Paris to meet on November 11th.
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