The United States announced this Saturday that it will review the lifting of sanctions against Venezuela agreed three months ago in exchange for respect for the opposition and the holding of the elections with guarantees, after the Chavismo imposed on María on Friday through a Supreme Court Ban will ratify Corina Machado from participating in the presidential elections. According to polls, Machado is the favorite to win these elections, well ahead of President Nicolás Maduro.
The State Department issued a statement complaining that the court decision – which also hurts Henrique Capriles Radonski – “contradicts the content of the Barbados Agreements,” which set an approximate date for elections and the approval of certain sanctioned politicians . “The United States is currently reconsidering sanctions policy in line with the evolution of this policy aimed at harming opposition and civilian leaders,” the text reads below.
Gerardo Blyde, head of the opposition delegation in the political negotiations with Chavismo and spokesman for the Unity Platform, has denounced that the Supreme Court ruling confirmed “the violation of the Barbados agreements” by the Maduro government. Machado was by a wide margin the winning candidate in the civic primaries held on October 22 by the Venezuelan opposition to choose a unified candidate to participate in the 2024 presidential elections, and is well at the top of preferences in the opinion polls, which Nicolás Maduro triples.
“We’re not leaving the table,” Blyde said, trying not to make things irreversible. “We denounce violations of the agreements.” Blyde announced that they would complain about the non-compliance to the Norwegian delegation, which acted as mediator in the process. Most prominent Venezuelan opposition politicians have issued statements supporting Machado as the elected leader of the democratic currents. The Chavista leadership, especially Diodado Cabello, was particularly sarcastic, emphasizing the impossibility of the candidate's participation.
Blyde read the contents of the Barbados Accords and began listing Chavismo's disagreements with the content of what was signed, “from the escalation of repression to the process of preventing candidates from participating,” he added. “The procedure for applying the law does not consist of a simple act and information, where do I go to appeal and that's it,” he said, referring to the TSJ ruling confirming Machado's impediment to participation. “You have to allow the appeal, you have to admit the evidence, you have to allow access to the administrative files and allow the right to defense.” “That is the procedure.”
The political leader asked for help from the international community (“Macrón, Petro, Lula”) to save the Barbados Accords from deadlock. “It is the most important political document we have signed during this political crisis in two decades. Even the most critical opponents use the Barbados agreements as a parameter for evaluating the process. To achieve the points of the Memorandum of Understanding, we have spent months discussing each point and analyzing options for the electoral path, which is the commitment of the unity platform,” the opponent added.
Regarding political prisoners, Blyde denounced the rotation mechanism that the ruling party introduces after agreements are concluded: “Some political prisoners are released so that others can enter later.” And he confirmed very firmly that Machado is and will be the presidential candidate of the democratic forces which are summarized in the unity platform (clear majority and hegemonic space of the anti-Chavista camp).
Blyde distanced himself from Jorge Rodríguez's recent complaints about the suppression of a military plot against Nicolás Maduro: “The only way this delegation has, the only approach, is to organize transparent presidential elections.”
“We only have one candidate. He was not part of the unity platform, but our consultation was open, he competed and won by a wide margin, in a clean process that recorded a high level of participation and that was recognized as valid and legitimate by all parties and leaders involved.
Half an hour after Blyde's press call to ascertain the journalists' position, the pro-government authorities offered reporters a free transport service to the Federal Legislative Palace, the seat of the National Assembly, to hear the relevant response from Jorge Rodríguez. Head of the Chavista delegation, who was summoned an hour later.
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