The United States will help Venezuela’s neighbors build bridges between socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro and Venezuelan opposition forces after Maduro pushed through questionable deals brokered by the White House, according to Bloomberg. I’m asking for report Saturday.
Bloomberg reports that two anonymous U.S. officials met with several diplomats at the Colombian ambassador’s residence in Washington last week, citing unnamed sources. It was reported that there was pressure to support the settlement.
A spokesperson for the Colombian embassy told Bloomberg that Ambassador Luis Gilberto Murillo was working under the auspices of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States (GRULAC), a regional bloc that meets regularly at various member embassies in Washington. He admitted to hosting the meeting.
The Maduro government and the Venezuelan opposition held negotiations in Barbados in October, and it is believed that they reached an agreement to hold “free and fair” presidential elections in the second half of 2024. It was led by the leftist administration of President Joe Biden. I talk.
Biden rewarded the rogue socialist government with oil and gas sanctions relief in exchange for a verbal promise to someday hold elections. The Biden administration issued the statement in April after President Maduro refused to abide by the terms of the agreement. deadline We urge the Maduro government to abide by the agreement. Failure to comply will result in sanctions being reinstated, said John Kirby, NSC strategic communications coordinator.
In a report, Bloomberg claimed Brian Nichols, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, and Juan Gonzalez, NSC Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, said the goal was “not to reimpose sanctions” against the Maduro regime.
“Instead, they said they wanted to promote conditions for fair and competitive elections that included President Maduro and opposition forces, and requested anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly,” the report said. There is.
The report claimed that Biden’s strategy to resolve the mess caused by his sanctions relief rests with Colombia’s far-left President Gustavo Petro as soon as he takes office in August 2022. allies He also joined the Maduro government.
“Gonzalez and U.S. National Security Adviser John Finer will travel to Colombia on February 5th to meet with Petro, who wants to mediate the conflict between Maduro and Maduro. [banned opposition candidate María Corina] Machado,” the report continues.
In a truly free and fair Venezuelan presidential election, center-right political leader María Colina Machado, who polls show is by far the frontrunner, is the socialist-dominated leader. He remains prohibited from running for public office until 2030 after a Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) decision.recently supported It rejected Machado’s appeal for deprivation of political rights.
Bloomberg claimed that despite Maduro, the planned meeting between Petro and Machado could be part of the Biden administration’s strategy. was locked up Machado from Venezuela, where the travel ban began 10 years ago.
Will Freeman, a Latin American studies fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Bloomberg that given Petro’s open criticism of the United States, the “more logical” choice as regional mediator would be Brazil’s radical left. He said it would be the president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
“If the United States wants a South American government to play this mediating role, it has a better chance of convincing the Colombian government than the Brazilian government,” Freeman said. “I don’t think there will be the same kind of unilateral persuasion as in Brazil.”
An anonymous Brazilian official told Bloomberg that the South American country remains committed to a “free and fair” electoral agreement signed last year.
Prospects for the establishment of the Maduro government Drafting This week’s “free and fair” election schedule.
President Maduro – during an official event on Sunday commemorating late dictator Hugo Chávez’s 1992 coup attempt – although the socialist regime treats the coup as a special occasion. claimed He said he would win the yet-to-be-scheduled election “by trick or by swindle.”
“The team wins and we will win every time, by hook or by crook,” Maduro insisted. “There. That’s all I have to say.”
“We are where we have been, and we are here because of the vote of the people and the sovereign, the only one to set, the only one to remove,” he continued. “In Venezuela, only the people rule, and the surname [referring to the opposition leadership] They do not rule this country and will never rule this country again. They couldn’t beat us and they never will. ”
Christian K. Caruso is a Venezuelan writer who chronicles life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
