Followers of political parties opposed to the Government of Nicolás Maduro, this Tuesday in Caracas.MIGUEL GUTIERREZ / EFE
The Government of Venezuela and the opposition will negotiate again in Mexico during the next few days.
After the signing of a memorandum of understanding on August 13 in Mexico, both parties resume the negotiation process that seeks above all to establish an electoral schedule with guarantees, as a claim of the opponents, and the lifting of sanctions, as a requirement of the Administration of Nicolás Maduro.
“We all know that today there are no conditions for a free and fair electoral process in Venezuela, that is why we are in Mexico.
We are fighting to achieve those conditions.
We are not passive spectators of a process.
We must and we will take action to save Venezuela, "said opposition leader Juan Guaidó hours before the start of the meetings, which will begin this Friday afternoon.
The negotiations of this round will be like the meetings between the two parties have been since the rapprochement began: behind closed doors and without access to the press.
However, as sources close to the process have revealed to the
AFP
agency
, the day will be marked by the opposition's decision to break three years of electoral boycott and participate in the regional elections on November 21.
More information
Negotiations in Mexico leave the structure created by Juan Guaidó in the shade
The Venezuelan opposition announces a list of unity to confront Chavismo in the November regional elections
“The first point on our agenda is the electoral one.
This round can focus on perhaps the most important condition for many actors: that an impartial international observation be achieved, which for some is a basic condition to have the guarantee that the result of the election will be respected ”, said one of the politicians opposition.
On Tuesday of this week, the parties that oppose the Maduro government - grouped under the G-4 - announced their participation in the elections of mayors and governors after “a difficult process of internal deliberation that had the participation of local leaders, regional and national ”, as indicated in a statement.
The Venezuelan opposition decided to turn the page of abstentionism with which it denounced the lack of transparency in the elections since 2017, but continues to insist that guarantees are required and achieving them is its objective in the dialogues that take place in Mexico.
Join EL PAÍS now to follow all the news and read without limits
Subscribe here
The Maduro government has its interest in this negotiation elsewhere. "Now that you want to go to elections, don't forget that you asked for the invasion of Venezuela and you are to blame for the sanctions," Maduro said a day after the opposition's announcement. "Now they must find a way to lift the sanctions," he insisted.
The president relies on making his demands in what he agreed in the memorandum of understanding, which establishes, among other aspects, the need to lift sanctions and the commitment to defend the national economy. The Venezuelan Administration will present in this second phase a “firm petition” that includes “all the economic requirements”. According to the state television channel
VTV,
the president met on Thursday night with the official delegation, led by the President of Parliament, Jorge Rodríguez, with whom he agreed that the purpose of the request is to "advance the recovery of the economy from the country".
“It is time for the gold seized in the Bank of England, all bank accounts, to be returned and all sanctions against the State company Petróleos de Venezuela, SA (PDVSA) be lifted and returned to the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) , the gold stolen in London and more than 8,000 million dollars in the world ”, said the president in a government act.
The process of dialogue in Mexico, which follows the failed dialogues in Barbados, in 2019, and the Dominican Republic, in 2018, resumed this Friday with the presence of former opposition deputy Freddy Guevara, released this week after spending a month in detention after being accused. of being involved with paramilitary groups.
Guevara, very close to Guaidó and who was an interlocutor between the parties in previous conversations, has advocated for the meetings that resume this Friday afternoon.
“Everything possible must be done so that this negotiation process goes well.
That solution happens because we all lower our pride, "said Guevara before joining the dialogue table that will once again seek to put an end to the crisis that Venezuela is experiencing.
Subscribe here
to the
EL PAÍS América
newsletter
and receive all the informative keys of the current situation in the region.