Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro expressed his country’s readiness to resume dialogue with the United States if the latter is ready to respect Venezuela’s sovereignty and stop threatening it, on the condition that the talks be based on the Qatar Agreement.
He reviewed the record of negotiations that led to this agreement and its key conclusions.
Last year, the two countries launched secret negotiations in Qatar, ultimately agreeing to a prisoner swap.
The mentioned agreement is based on three phases, ultimately leading to the normalization of diplomatic relations between the United States and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
Phase one: Preparatory steps
- In the first phase of the Qatar Agreement, according to the minutes published by Maduro, Venezuela announces its intention to take the following actions:
- Announce the specific date for the next round of dialogue, which will be organized within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding signed on August 13, 2021, in Mexico City, between the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Unitary Platform.
- Authorize all presidential candidates and political parties that meet the specified requirements to participate in the presidential elections.
- Reject any form of violence in political practice, as well as reject any actions that threaten Venezuela’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
- Announce the intention to invite technical election observation missions from the European Union, the Carter Center, and the United Nations election expert team.
- Conduct a comprehensive and agreed-upon update and review of the electoral register before the elections, in the presence of international observers.
- Ensure free, equal, and balanced access for all candidates to social networks and other national and international media.
On the other hand, the United States is expected to take the following steps:
- Issue a statement supporting the announcement of the resumption of talks.
- Issue licenses to facilitate the repayment of PetroCaribe debts from Haiti, Belize, and the Dominican Republic to entities in Venezuela and transactions related to the Bank of Venezuela.
- Amend the license for Trinidad and Tobago to allow cash payments and transactions related to the Bank of Venezuela.
- Issue a general license, renewable every six months based on mutual understandings, to allow new and existing operations in the Venezuelan oil and gas sectors and to permit financial transactions related to the Bank of Venezuela.
- Issue general licenses related to the negotiation of Venezuelan debts and participation in the Venezuelan gold sector.
Under the agreement, in the first phase, both parties also committed to developing an action plan aimed at “releasing individuals deprived of freedom” of mutual concern in an agreed-upon manner, “according to the conditions discussed in the sessions that led to the preparation of this Memorandum of Understanding.”
Phase two: Official announcement of electoral calendar
The second phase of the agreement requires that the electoral authority in Venezuela announce, before the end of the first quarter of 2024, the timetable for the presidential elections and extend an invitation to the EU’s technical election observation missions, the Carter Center, and the United Nations team of electoral experts [for their attendance].
Simultaneously, the United States issues a second general license to “suspend economic sanctions provided that it be renewed every 6 months based on mutual understandings.”
Phase three: Post-election steps
In the third phase, the United States pledges, after holding the presidential elections and inaugurating the duly elected president, to “release the frozen assets of the Venezuelan government in the United States, in addition to lifting all sanctions imposed on Venezuela,” followed by the two parties normalizing diplomatic and consular relations.
The dialogue between the two countries had been resumed earlier under the mediation of Qatar, the sponsor of a prisoner exchange agreement months ago, which Washington violated after re-imposing US oil sanctions on Caracas last April.
While the Venezuelan side seeks a relationship between the two parties based on trust and respect for the principles of self-determination, sovereignty, reciprocity, and non-interference in internal affairs, it is likely that there will be no radical review of relations between Caracas and Washington, as the latter does not favor the continuation of a regime hostile to its policies in the Bolivarian Republic.
Caracas will therefore continue to position itself as part of the Global South, and Maduro’s main task, through dialogue, is to mitigate the impact of sanctions on a country suffering from a long-term economic crisis.
Maduro’s announcement comes after he was announced the victor in last Sunday’s presidential election, which triggered nationwide riots and violence.
On Thursday, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico joined the United States, the European Union, and several other international sides in calling for Caracas to release detailed voting data.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said the opposition views Edmundo Gonzalez, the main rival to Maduro, as the winner of the presidential election.
This plays out as a déjà vu of what the US did during the last elections in Venezuela.
Venezuela was thrown into a political crisis in January 2019 when Juan Guaido, the former head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, backed by the US, declared himself interim president in an attempt to depose Maduro.
The US still acknowledged Guaido’s government and called Maduro “illegitimate”.
But Maduro announced on Wednesday that his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) is prepared to provide 100% of its vote records after Sunday’s presidential election.
Source: AlMayadeen
