2024-07-07 11:22:30
Venezuela and the United States agreed to “improve bilateral relations” after the resumption of a dialogue process between the two countries, the chief negotiator of the president’s delegation reported on Wednesday. Nicolas Maduro.
Madurowho is seeking a third re-election on July 28, surprisingly announced two days ago that this meeting would be held, which takes place three months after Washington re-established sanctions on Venezuelan crude oil.
“After this first meeting we agreed on: 1. The willingness of both governments to work together to gain trust and improve relations,” he wrote. Jorge Rodriguez, representative of the Venezuelan government on the social network X.
And “maintain communications in a respectful and constructive manner,” he added.
Caracas and Washington held secret negotiations between high-ranking officials at the end of last year in Qatar, it was announced at the time. Rodríguez, who also presides over Parliament. The details of the talks were not disclosed, but they culminated in a prisoner exchange: the United States freed a Alex Saabaccused of being a front man for Maduro, and Venezuela to 28 prisoners, 10 Americans and 18 Venezuelans.
Maduro said Monday that talks had resumed following a proposal from the United States that he decided to accept after “thinking about it for two months.”
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said earlier that the United States was approaching the meeting “in good faith.”
“I don’t have any specific details to share on the diplomatic engagement, but we certainly welcome it in good faith,” he insisted.
“It will not be easy”
The meeting was virtual, Rodríguez said. And it served for Venezuela to express “rejection of the misrepresentations about this dialogue that have been repeatedly published by spokespersons of the American government.”
She did not go into details, but Washington has been highly critical of the organization of the presidential elections and the obstacles that, according to her, the ruling electoral authority has placed in the way of the opposition participating.
Venezuela and the United States have not had diplomatic relations since 2019, after the White House rejected Maduro’s second re-election a year earlier, which it called fraudulent.
Washington imposed a battery of sanctions in an unsuccessful attempt to topple Maduro. The package included an oil embargo, which was relaxed in October as a reward for the electoral agreement reached between Maduro’s government and the opposition.
But Washington backed off the measure amid criticism of the organization of the elections, including the political disqualification of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, the favorite in the polls.
The opposition has launched Edmundo González Urrutia as a substitute to face Maduro in an election fraught with uncertainty.
The White House has also criticised the arrests of opposition figures over the past six months, which have now reached 46 according to the NGO Access to Justice, and the decision to withdraw the invitation to the EU to observe the presidential election process.
“We are clear that democratic change will not be easy and requires serious commitment,” Jean-Pierre insisted. “We remain committed to supporting the will of the people of Venezuela and a path towards our democratic governance through competitive and also inclusive elections.”
LDAV
Related
2024-07-07 11:22:30