Venezuela: upcoming resumption in Mexico of discussions between Maduro and the opposition
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (left) with OPEC Secretary General Haitham al-Ghaisin at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, September 14, 2022. (Illustrative image) AP - Ariana Cubillos
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will resume negotiations with the opposition "on November 25 and 26", the Colombian President announced on Wednesday November 23.
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The government and the opposition had started negotiations in Mexico, where this new session of discussions should be held, in August 2021 after the failure of two previous initiatives.
But they have been frozen since October 2021 by President Maduro, due to the extradition from Cape Verde to the United States of
Alex Saab
, a businessman close to the government, tried for money laundering.
Several international mediations have since attempted to relaunch these discussions, notably that of French President
Emmanuel Macron in mid-November
, alongside Mr. Petro and their Argentinian counterpart Alberto Fernandez, as well as that of the Vatican, which recently sent a delegation in Caracas.
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Colombia's helping hand
It was President Petro who announced this new round of talks.
Este 25 y 26 de Noviembre reinician los dialogos entre el gobierno de Maduro y la oposición venezolana.
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) November 23, 2022
Colombia's new left-wing president intends to help Venezuela overcome the political impasse in which it finds itself.
After three years of conflict - the outgoing Colombian president, the conservative Ivan Duque (2018-2022) not recognizing the government of the Venezuelan president as legitimate - the two countries have renewed contact: diplomatic relations
resumed in August
with an exchange of ambassadors and, after seven years of total or partial closure,
the border officially reopened at the end of September
.
Since the beginning of the week, Venezuela has also hosted
negotiations between the Petro government and the Colombian Guevara guerrillas of the ELN
(National Liberation Army).
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Venezuelan oil interests the whole planet
Venezuela, subject to economic sanctions from the United States and Europe, is experiencing a very serious economic crisis which has led some 7 million Venezuelans to take the roads of exile.
The
United States, however,
recently eased some of its sanctions and opened a channel for discussions with Caracas.
In the background, the global energy crisis because Venezuela has the largest oil reservoir in the world.
The US government of Joe Biden has publicly admitted that Venezuelan hydrocarbons could be useful on the international market in the midst of the energy crisis due to the war waged by Russia in Ukraine.
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The discussions this weekend, organized again under the aegis of Norway, will tackle the question of the presidential election, the status of several hundred political prisoners and American sanctions against Caracas, specify sources close to the file.
The possibility of granting a humanitarian aid fund of more than 3 billion dollars, administered by the United States, will also be put on the table of discussions.
President Maduro had made the lifting of US sanctions a prerequisite for any resumption of negotiations.
Maduro's chief negotiators and the opposition met Nov. 11 at the Paris Forum, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, but failed to agree on a date for the resumption of the dialogue.
(and with agencies)
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