That international conference called by Colombia regarding the resumption of dialogue between the government and the Venezuelan opposition in the context of the 2024 elections makes it clear that there are still many issues to be resolved in order to achieve the proposed goals and Caracas will not give up if they do not return them. assets and repeal unilateral sanctions.

Neither the Venezuelan government nor the opposition attended last Tuesday’s meeting, despite previous talks with the hosts. It can be asserted that the most involved factors reconsidered their political criteria, which have been discussed in other scenarios, with no visible results, due to the belligerent and not too serious opposing positions of the revolutionary lines.

At the San Carlos Palace, the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bogotá, 19 delegates from Germany, Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Spain, the United States (US) met, invited by leftist president Gustavo Petro. , France, Honduras, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, South Africa and Turkey. Moreover, the European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, declared an enemy of the Bolivarian process.

Both the hosts – who are engaged in finding the so-called total peace with active guerrilla forces and mafia groups – as well as the guests, express their opinions and try to find solutions to restart political dialogue between the national Executive and the sectors. Bogus Unity Platform, integrated by opposition parties.

In his opening remarks at the event, followed by expectations from the Latin American and Caribbean regions, Petro mentioned that Colombia’s recommendation was entry Venezuelan to the Inter-American Human Rights System, – a group he left in 2012 – but also includes reform American Convention on Human Rights.

This action, explained Petro, does not mean a return to the Organization of American States (OAS), an example left by the Venezuelan government due to the organization’s acts of interference with the state.

The president also urged the preparation of a timetable for lifting the economic sanctions imposed on Caracas, which were adopted by hegemonic states and groups as a pressure mechanism to achieve, until recently, the non-electoral departure of the constitutional president. Nicolas Maduro.

Petro put on the table the two high points of the scenario of a South American country whose people suffer illegal sanctions by the US and the European Union, their staunch followers, which cause economic, material and human damage to the people of the country he chooses. XXI century socialism as a system under the mandate of the late President Hugo Chavez, the leader of the Bolivarian Revolution.

You have to walk two tracks, he said: the gradual lifting of sanctions and the holding of elections next year, with all the guarantees for the party.

This is not the first time attempts have been made to find a formula to force the opposition to comply with the pacts. Its delegation even rose from the negotiating table after a few days, apparently following orders from Washington, declared the Bolivarian government’s worst enemy.

In November 2022, for example unitary platform agreed with the delegation led by Jorge Rodríguez, president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, – a document was passed – a deposit of 3.2 billion dollars was stolen from the ruling State.

However, despite the admonitions, the head of the opposition delegation Gerardo Blyde has yet to decide on the payment, which precludes any new talks, by breaking his promise. “There is no reason to continue dialogue with people without a word,” emphasized Rodríguez.

In order for there to be an understanding, and President Maduro conveyed it, his government presented five points at the International Summit to return to dialogue and move forward, he said, so that the political, social and electoral panorama could take place. place under normal conditions.

A few hours before the summit started, at program With Maduro +, president of the National Assembly, mentioning that they are bringing to Bogotá, as a demand to continue talks, the lifting of illegal sanctions imposed for seven years, the return of money seized in England, in European banks and companies such as Citgo , in addition to stopping the policy of attacking courts in the United States and the International Criminal Court.

Apart from that, there is another sensitive issue for the Venezuelan people and that is that the US authorities granted immediate freedom to diplomat Alex Saab, who is working to try to break the blockade imposed on Caracas, which prevented even its sale. oil. Saab was arrested in South Africa and extradited to the US, where he is being held in a maximum security prison, according to sources from Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry.

For Maduro, the Bogotá meeting was a “risk move”, and international analysts agree on this, because while Petro’s goals, as he says, are for the best – since taking office he has reestablished smooth relations with his neighbors -, the reality is that the affairs domestic affairs of the nation must be resolved by those involved, without the interference of other foreign sectors.

However, what the conference meant was to unite in the same space countries and entities that in one way or another threaten Venezuela’s sovereignty, besides others who speak out for respecting sovereignty, independence and self-determination. and the people.

SUMMIT RESULTS

The final declaration of the meeting, reports the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bogota, has three key points.

One of them proposes the need to establish an election timetable that allows for the holding of free and transparent elections with full guarantees for all Venezuelan actors.

Second, it stated that the agreed steps to satisfy the parties were in line with the lifting of various sanctions.

The declaration also proposed that the continuation of the negotiation process facilitated by the Kingdom of Norway in Mexico be accompanied by the acceleration of the implementation of a single trust fund for social investment in Venezuela.
This appointment will have a second part with no agreed date.

Among the speakers, Argentina’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Santiago Cafiero, stood out, advocating dialogue between Venezuelans, “without outside pressure”, as a way out of the country’s crisis. Cafiero emphasized that “democracy, human rights, the restoration of the Venezuelan economy and the well-being of its people are perfectly suitable goals” and assured that “sanctions and blockades will never contribute to that goal.”

In his speech, Borrell held it community block willing to review personal sanction which had dictated to senior Chavismo officials that “democratic normalization” in Venezuela was progressing and there were “free, transparent and inclusive elections”.

The EU High Representative assured that this “review” would be carried out because these sanctions are “not eternal, sanctions are not made to last foreverto advance the normalization process of democracy”.

Accustomed to the various attempts made by international actors so that the major power groups let the Venezuelan people who freely chose their political system in 1998 with the election of Chavez and then Maduro live in peace, the Caracas government assured that “I pay attention ¨ from the results of the International Conference.

Shortly after the meeting in Bogotá concluded, the Executive issued a statement that was reaffirmed “applicable necessity” for the repeal of “each and every coercive act of international law which is unilateral, illegal and harmful.” which constitutes an aggression against the entire Venezuelan population and which hinders the development of the economic and social life of the country”.

A ludicrous note in context was provided by former deputy Juan Guaido, who proclaimed himself interim president of Venezuela and appeared in Colombia last weekend. He was forced to leave the country immediately, as he was not invited to give an opinion beforehand, let alone in person at the summit.

Guaidó took a commercial flight to Miami, reports Bogotá’s Foreign Ministry, a place where counterrevolutionaries and mercenaries acting against progressive governments in Latin America and the Caribbean meet and where he is sure to feel in the clouds.