Unitary Platform prepares negotiating delegation

• The national coordinator of the opposition coalition, Omar Barboza, declared that the delegation will work to guarantee the normality of the presidential elections and will be attentive to any possible meeting with the ruling party.

The Democratic Unitary Platform announced on July 2 that it will activate its negotiating delegation to be prepared for a possible resumption of the dialogue process with the United States government. The team, headed by Gerardo Blyde, will aim to ensure compliance with the Barbados Agreement and that democratic guarantees are respected in the presidential elections on July 28.

During a press conference, the Secretary General of the Platform, Omar Barboza, noted that although there is still no call to resume negotiations that have been paralyzed since October 2023, the activation of the delegation leaves an open channel for a potential meeting. He also assured that he will seek to ensure an environment of peace and normality for the coming weeks.

“The negotiating committee will be working to help create a climate of respect for democratic rules and to be alert to any dialogue that really helps institutional normality and the normality of elections,” he said.

Bilateral

Nicolas Maduro. Photo: EFE

Barboza’s statements come following Nicolás Maduro will announce the beginning of a new dialogue process with the United States government. The first meeting, the details of which are still unknown, will take place on July 3, although the participation of the opposition delegation is not planned for now.

“We think it is positive that this is happening. It is a bilateral dialogue between the Maduro government and the United States, however, we have activated the negotiating delegation of the Unitary Platform and it will be attentive to intervene in any space in which it is possible to work for the normality of the electoral process,” he commented.

Barboza added that the ruling party’s willingness to negotiate should be taken as “a good sign,” especially in the current electoral context. He recalled that the opposition’s unified candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, recently proposed the creation of an alternation agreement to ensure a peaceful and democratic transition, in accordance with what is established in the Constitution.

“As there is a process in which a president is elected, then there is a time until January 10 to take office and then comes the next stage, so I think that an agreement of this type is necessary and hopefully this dialogue can take place. We are willing to have this dialogue for peace in Venezuela,” he said.

In peace

Government and opposition sign Barbados Agreement. Photo: @puzkas/ Twitter

In response to statements by government spokesmen accusing the opposition of planning alleged acts of destabilization before the elections, Barboza reiterated that the Unitary Platform remains firm on the electoral path. He denied any connection with violent acts or calls for abstention.

“We are the first people interested in the recognition of the results of what will happen on July 28, first because we are democrats and we respect the will of the people, and second because we have no doubt that we will win,” he said.

He also noted that there is no legal process or sanction once morest González Urrutia so far, and therefore dismissed threats of a possible disqualification of the candidate or of annulling his membership in the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD). “I tell the government that desperation is a bad advisor. We are at peace, but we have a lot of people and these people will not allow their rights to be violated,” he warned.

Unfulfilled agreements

Between 2021 and 2023, the government and the opposition held an intermittent dialogue process in Mexico, mediated by the Kingdom of Norway. This dialogue sought precisely to reestablish the democratic thread in Venezuela with the release of political prisoners, attention to the complex humanitarian emergency and electoral guarantees, while the ruling party advocated for the lifting of international economic sanctions.

Throughout this process there were multiple interruptions, until in March 2022 the Maduro government began a parallel negotiation with representatives of the Joe Biden Administration. This second dialogue was held secretly in Doha, Qatar, and was consolidated in October 2023 with an agreement in which the United States would relax its sanctions for six months, while Maduro committed to guarantee free and competitive elections.

This paved the way for the ruling party to sign the Barbados Agreement with the opposition delegation in October. In general terms, this pact ensured the democratic development of the 2024 presidential elections, allowing the opposition to participate without obstacles and respecting the results through a transparent and verifiable process.

However, both the Unitary Platform and the United States denounced shortly following that the Maduro government systematically failed to comply with the Barbados Agreement. This was done by maintaining the disqualification once morest María Corina Machado and blocking the registration of her substitute Corina Yoris, in addition to persecuting and arresting collaborators of the opposition command. This led Washington to resume its sanctions, even though the government finally allowed González Urrutia to participate with some limitations.

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