The government of Venezuela and the opposition united in the Democratic United Platform (PUD) have accepted an invitation formulated by Norway for a meeting within the framework of a commission to monitor and verify the agreements reached in October in Barbados.
In a press conference yesterday, reports the Venezuelan all-news TV Telesur, the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, indicated that both he and the head of the opposition delegation, Gerardo Blyde, had received a proposal days ago from Norway, the country dialogue facilitator, for a meeting regarding the application of the Barbados Agreements.
In this regard, Rodríguez confirmed that "we will make a new attempt to support the agreements signed in Barbados despite the continuous attacks on the provisions of our Constitution". The announcement by the President of the National Assembly comes after the Supreme Court (TSJ) confirmed the 26 January the 15-year ban on opposition presidential candidate María Corina Machado from holding public office.
This ruling, the broadcaster underlines, has given rise to a different interpretation of the October Agreements, because while the opposition believes that Machado is still entitled to run in the presidential elections, the government maintains that at no time does what was signed in Barbados mention specific provisions on candidates to the elections.
The US suspends the lifting of sanctions against the state company that markets gold
In reaction to the Venezuelan Supreme Court's decision to uphold the ban on opposition presidential candidate Maria Corina Machado from holding public office, the US Treasury Department has ordered the suspension, by February 13, of all transactions with the Corporación Venezolana de Guayana Minerven CA, a state-owned company specializing in the extraction and marketing of gold.
In this way, the Caracas newspaper El Nacional reports, the Biden administration has revoked the suspension of sanctions that had been granted to the Minerven company, demanding that Venezuela respect the rights of the opposition for the presidential elections which will have to take place in the second half of the year.
Last October, after an agreement signed by the Venezuelan government with the opposition, the US revoked the sanctions imposed on the mining company in 2019, as it had also done for others operating in the oil and gas sector.
Hours before canceling the lifting of sanctions against Minerven, the White House had warned the government of President Nicolás Maduro that it had until April to respect the agreements reached in Barbados with the opposition, and thus avoid possible new sanctions.
Machado 'I will go ahead and defeat Maduro'
Yesterday Machado declared that despite the confirmation of his ineligibility for 15 years, he will continue to "respect the
mandate received from the Venezuelan people".
In statements in Caracas, the anti-Chavista leader underlined that "
Venezuelans voted for me to defeat (president) Nicolás Maduro, and they know this."
"The people have decided this way - he continued - and we will continue until the end, because it is a spiritual struggle, and good always triumphs over evil".
"It is obvious - he continued - that they will do everything to prevent my candidacy", but Maduro must know that "he will not be the one to
choose the people's candidate, because he has already chosen him, and that's it".
Referring to the Supreme Court ruling that upheld his ban from public office, Machado said that "what they did on January 26 is the worst mistake they have made so far."
Finally, the leader of the Vente Venezuela party renewed her willingness to negotiate with the other party, "with the
courage to assume the possible costs of what is negotiated".
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