Maduro reiterated his economic demand for a dialogue process

MADRID, August 19 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Britain’s charge d’affaires in Venezuela, Becks Buckingham, held a meeting this Wednesday with opposition leader Juan Guaido.

“I had a friendly and productive meeting with Guaido,” Buckingham said on his Twitter account. The representative, who regards Guaido as “interim constitutional president of Venezuela”, has reaffirmed “Britain’s support for efforts to reach a democratic solution to the crisis in Venezuela through free and fair elections.”

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela, Jorge Arreaza, criticized this meeting as justification “for the theft of the Venezuelan people’s gold.” “The whole circus is anti-diplomatic,” he said on his Twitter account.

In July, the Government of British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, branded Nicolás Maduro’s Government as “illegitimate”, while pointing out that it recognized Guaido as the “sole” head of State of Venezuela since February 2019 during trials. British Supreme Court in the case of the Caribbean country’s gold reserves in the Bank of England.

This case occurred in May 2020, when the Central Bank of Venezuela filed a lawsuit against the Bank of England for its refusal to access its gold reserves. British institutions later explained that they recognized Juan Guaidó as the supreme president of a Latin American country, for that reason he refused to respond to institutions under the control of Nicolás Maduro.

MADURO SPREADS HIS ECONOMIC DEMAND IN DIALOGUE

The President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, who has announced the creation of the Higher Economic Council “to strengthen the productive apparatus” of the country, has reaffirmed bringing to the dialogue process between the government and the opposition demands that the company Monómeros, a subsidiary of the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) in the United States and the Venezuelan petrochemical company Pequiven in Colombia, returned to the country.

“On the day dedicated to the economy, I propose to bring to the dialogue table a document signed by the manufacturer, to demand that the Monómeros company be returned to its owner,” he said on his Twitter account.

Last week, the Venezuelan government and opposition signed a memorandum of understanding with the start of a dialogue process that both sides described as “constructive” and is expected to continue in September.