On the initiative of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, around twenty countries met on Tuesday in Colombia to try to relaunch dialogue in neighboring Venezuela between the Chavista government of Nicolas Maduro and its opposition, citing “common positions”, but for the moment without concrete result.
For Bogota, the objective of this summit, marked by the express and undesirable passage of the opponent Juan Guaido, was to “contribute to the resumption of political dialogue”, while the negotiations started in Mexico City in August 2021, already under mediation international, have been on hold since November. Neither the opposition nor the Venezuelan authorities have been invited.
The meeting lasted all afternoon behind closed doors in Bogota, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the presence of several American special envoys, including Deputy National Security Advisor Jonathan Finer, and European Foreign Minister Josep Borrel.
At the end of the debates, the diplomats underlined “the need to establish an electoral calendar that allows free, transparent elections and with all the guarantees for all Venezuelan actors” in 2024, the Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs told the press. Foreign Affairs, Alvaro Leyva.
The delegations “identified common positions” on a possible “lifting of the various sanctions against Venezuela”, according to Mr. Leyva, who however did not specify if and when the Mexico negotiations would resume directly between the actors of the crisis.
The minister also did not indicate whether the United States and other countries had committed to lifting these sanctions. On the other hand, he assured that President Petro would “quickly” convene a new summit with the same guests “in order to follow the evolution of what was concluded” on Tuesday.
In a statement posted on Twitter by its Foreign Minister, Yvan Gil, the Venezuelan government for its part “took note of the deliberations held” during the conference and reiterated the “imperative need” to lift the sanctions.
According to one participant, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, the summit gave rise to “a good exchange of positions, but no great opening”, the United States “not seeming ready to take a small step in expecting a step in return, such as by releasing a small part of the funds frozen by the UN mechanism”.
“This kind of meeting raises great expectations, or on the contrary can lead to great disappointment,” President Petro warned in his opening speech.
And to suggest “walking in two directions”: towards the establishment “of an election calendar (of 2024) and their guarantees, so that the Venezuelan people can decide freely and sovereignly what they want, without pressure”. And to move forward at the same time on the “lifting of sanctions” against Venezuela, a recurring requirement of the Maduro government.
The summit was especially marked by the impromptu arrival in Bogota of the opponent Guaido, officially banned from leaving Venezuela since 2019 and prosecuted by the justice of his country in particular for “treason”.
Arrived “irregularly” on Colombian territory according to local authorities, Mr. Guaido finally left Bogota at night for Miami via a commercial flight, claiming to have been expelled.
Mr. Guaido, considered by the United States as the de facto president of his country in early 2019, after the disputed re-election in May 2018 of President Nicolas Maduro, “was not expelled”, retorted President Petro.
At the end of 2022, the Venezuelan opposition, divided, had put an end to the “interim government” of Juan Guaido.
Colombia was Mr Guaido’s main ally in the region when it was chaired by Mr Petro’s predecessor, the conservative Ivan Duque. The two countries severed their relations in 2019.
Gustavo Petro, elected Colombia’s first left-wing president in the summer of 2022, has brought about a spectacular rapprochement with Caracas, restoring diplomatic relations and getting involved in the process of political negotiation. Since his inauguration, he has met the Venezuelan president four times and reopened the border.
Last Thursday, Mr. Petro asked US President Joe Biden to gradually lift sanctions against Venezuela in exchange for guarantees for the 2024 presidential election.
Even before the summit, Mr. Maduro minimized its scope, demanding that the United States release nearly 3.2 billion dollars of Venezuelan assets, to implement social programs negotiated in November between the power and the opposition.
According to Minister Leyva, the countries present this Tuesday in Bogota “will inform President Nicolas Maduro” and the “parties and sectors of the opposition and civil society of the results of the summit so that they can evaluate and comment on them”.
“It is obvious that a process of democratic normalization will have to be accompanied by a gradual lifting of sanctions”, had commented at the opening of the debates the head of diplomacy of the EU. “The whole problem is to know when and how”.
04/26/2023 07:28:55 – Bogotá (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
