Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro said on Wednesday (12) that he was ready to speak, with international mediation, to opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who proposed a negotiation to call for free elections in exchange for the progressive suspension of sanctions against the United States. the parents.
“Now Guaidó wants to sit down with me. What do you think? (…) I agree, with the help of the European Union, the Norwegian government, the contact group, when they want, where they want and how they want, I am ready to meet all the opposition to see what comes out, something good comes out and they abandon the path of war, invasion, attacks, suddenly State, and come on the electoral path ”, declared the Venezuelan official.
“May he [Guaidó] be incorporated into the dialogues that already exist, that he does not think he is the supreme leader of a country that does not recognize him, ”Maduro added.
Norway negotiated failed negotiations between Maduro and Guaidó delegates in 2019, which were frozen when the United States stepped up financial sanctions against Venezuela. In turn, the International Contact Group, an organization created to seek alternatives to the Venezuelan crisis and formed by several countries in America and Europe, defended new approaches in vain.
Guaidó was recognized in January 2019 as the interim president of Venezuela by the United States, Brazil and more than fifty countries, but he was unable to remove Maduro from power and take control of the country.
The idea of the leader of the opposition is to draw up a pact that includes the convening of an electoral calendar, taking into account presidential, parliamentary, regional and municipal disputes, with the presence of international observers, in addition to “l ‘massive influx of humanitarian aid and vaccines against Covid -19 “and the release of all political prisoners. In return, he has the commitment of the international community to” offer incentives to the regime, including the gradual lifting of sanctions ”imposed on the Caribbean country.
Maduro has categorically ruled out, on several occasions, the possibility of anticipating the presidential elections. He has been in office since 2012 and, according to the rules in force, has a mandate until 2025.
Guaidó’s proposal came shortly after parliament, with a large government majority, appointed new electoral authorities. This is a National Electoral Council (CNE) “that we do not recognize,” said Guaidó, refusing to participate in the municipal and regional elections announced by the CNE for this year, on a date yet to be defined.
Guaidó led the boycott of the main opposition parties against the 2018 presidential and legislative elections in 2020, denouncing them as fraudulent.