The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, announced on Wednesday that he met with sectors of the Venezuelan opposition “with the perspective of building political peace,” a day after his meeting with President Nicolás Maduro.
“Yesterday I met with President Maduro and today with sectors of the Venezuelan opposition with the perspective of building political peace,” wrote in your account at X.
The Colombian president referred to a “mediation” by his country in search of a political rapprochement in Venezuela and said he had presented a proposal to Maduro and the opposition.
“To ensure that this country can have political peace, political peace can also be armed peace in Colombia, the peace of disarmament. “We are building democratic proposals in Venezuela that I hope will guarantee better well-being for the Venezuelan people,” he said on the plane that took him back to Colombia this Wednesday.
Petro and Maduro addressed various bilateral cooperation issues on Tuesday at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas and insisted on the construction of “political peace and military peace” in both countries. They placed special emphasis on Venezuela's role as guarantor in the dialogue processes between Colombia and the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the FARC-EP.
A joint document released at the end of brief statements explains that Maduro explained in detail the progress of the process for the presidential elections of July 28, for which they have registered. 13 candidates of 37 political organizations.
“All in accordance with Venezuelan laws and in accordance with the discussions held between the Venezuelan government and the opposition, reflected in the Barbados and Caracas agreements,” the joint statement states.
Last week Petro qualified as a “anti-democratic coup” that the opposition leader, María Corina Machado, winner of the opposition presidential primary, and other candidates have not been allowed to participate in the presidential elections scheduled for July 28.
At the end of last month, the Maduro government accused the Colombian Foreign Ministry of committing an act of “gross interference” on issues that concern Venezuelans, after he expressed concern about the “difficulties” that the opposition's Unitary Platform faced in registering its unitary candidacy for the presidency of Venezuela.
But, the leaders did not refer to these issues in public.
The coalition of Venezuelan opposition parties reported that it was prevented from registering Corina Yorisan 80-year-old philosopher who, faced with the impossibility of running for Machado because she was disqualified, was chosen as a consensus candidate.
The opposition coalition managed to provisionally nominate diplomat Edmundo González, and continues to make efforts to replace him with Yoris.
The governor of the state of Zulia, Manuel Rosales, registered as a candidate without support from the opposition bloc for one of the two cards enabled for the opposition on the electoral ballot.
Since coming to power in 2022, Petro has played an important role in the political processes between the government and the Venezuelan opposition.
Last year he promoted an international conference to promote political dialogue in Venezuela that culminated in common positions on the need for an electoral schedule that allows free and guaranteed elections and that the steps were accompanied by the lifting of sanctions.
Then, at the end of last year, in Barbados, the opposition's Unitary Platform and the Maduro government signed an agreement on electoral guarantees that led to the relaxation of sanctions by the United States and which may be reimposed next week.
The opposition denounces that the government has breached the agreement by not recognizing and respecting the right to select its candidate freely and in accordance with its internal mechanisms.
Last week the Secretary of State of Norway, Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik, visited Venezuela where he confirmed that it is “crucial” the implementation of the agreementsmet with the parties and reiterated that “it is up to them to decide the path to follow.”
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