It was not the International Conference on Venezuela that Gustavo Petro expected. The uproar caused by the expulsion of Juan Guaidó, former interim president and leader of Voluntad Popular, who intended to follow an agenda parallel to the summit in Bogotá, aroused more interest than the meeting of twenty foreign delegations invited to the meeting.
In addition, since they achieved so little progress, they had to change the setting where they would make a solemn official declaration, with representatives of several nations, for a brief and languid communication from the Colombian Foreign Minister, Álvaro Leyva on the four points they agreed on.
They all considered that the Chavista dictatorship and the Unitary Platform – which only represents one faction of the opposition – should dialogue and establish an electoral schedule in order to hold “free, transparent and full guarantees for all” elections.
The second commitment was limited to ensuring that they will gradually lift sanctions for measures that take steps “to the satisfaction of the parties.” Therefore, they did not succumb to the blackmail of Nicolás Maduro who demanded the delivery of 3,200 million dollars that the United States keeps imprisoned until Venezuela returns to the democratic path.
Finally, they expressed their wish that both rivals return to negotiations in Mexico. But they did not specify dates or schedule the second International Conference to be held, Leyva said, to follow up on what was discussed in the first.
Despite the little achieved, Josep Borrell said that for the European Union it is positive that so many countries meet because “democracy and political stability in Venezuela are of interest to all of us.”
For Petro, the present and future of his neighbor immediately faded into the background. Hours before the summit curtain fell, she began cooking up a domestic political crisis. He buried his parliamentary alliance and returned to trading chips in his cabinet. A month ago he fired three ministers and this Wednesday he dispensed with seven more. Those responsible for the portfolios of Agriculture, Interior, Finance, Science and Technology, Health, Transport and ICT leave.
He had already anticipated the movements in Zarzal, a town in the department of Valle del Cauca and one of his electoral forts. On Tuesday he delivered an angry and strong speech due to the lack of support from the presidents of the Liberal, Conservative and La U Parties, for his Health reform, the essential axis of his government.
“The agreed political coalition has ended today,” he wrote on Twitter. “Despite the majority vote at the polls calling for a change in Colombia, an attempt is being made to end this with threats and sectarianism. Such a situation leads us to a rethinking of the government.”
In addition to the changes in the Executive, in Zarzal, the president summoned the rural masses to the streets to pressure support in the Legislature, where he does not have a majority of seats.
“When we told the people about the social outbreak (of 2019): calm down that we are going to solve this for good and at the polls, the people went to the polls and calmed down. But now they are mocking the decisions of the polls,” he said President. To overcome the brakes, Petro suggested having “an emergency government that has officials who work day and night (…) capable of overcoming the enormous challenges that the rural world demands of us. We cannot wait any longer.”
And he asked to surround that Executive with a “peasant movement that rises in dignity. If it continues under silence, they take us to slavery. If it mobilizes, we go towards democracy, freedom and peace.”
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