Petro advocates “democratic reconstruction” at the start of the conference on Venezuela

The long-awaited international conference on Venezuela begins in Bogotá.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro leads the meeting with the presence of foreign ministers from 20 countries, including the High Representative for foreign policy of the European Union, Joseph Borrell. The top seeks to unblock the dialogue between the Government of Nicolás Maduro and the Venezuelan opposition.

The official talks between the two parties, which have taken place in Mexico, have been frozen since last November.

“20 countries with their foreign ministries are already in Bogotá to participate in the international conference on Venezuela that will make recommendations to the Venezuelan government and opposition in order to reach a free and sovereign decision of the people,” Petro assured through his Twitter account. Twitter.

After years of a deep political, economic and social crisis that has forced the exodus of millions of its citizens, the international community demands that Maduro set a date in 2024 for the holding of “free and democratic” general elections, with the presence of international observers and guarantees for the opposition.

Fundamental requirements to recover credibility in a government that has been the subject of multiple allegations of fraud in consecutive elections with which Chavismo has remained in power for almost two decades, including the 2018 presidential elections in which Maduro was re-elected.

It was precisely after those elections that the United States declared the Venezuelan president “illegitimate” and more than 50 countries recognized the opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, as interim president.

However, since last December the opposition political parties put an end to that Administration and, therefore, to the position of Guaidó. Everything to make way for the reform of the so-called Statute of Transition to Democracy, which tacitly commits itself to an electoral process, after deep divisions between the benches that in the past joined forces to oppose the ruling party.

The international community also asks the Maduro government to lift the disqualification of leaders who held public office and release political prisoners.

Caracas demands the lifting of Washington sanctions

So far, the Maduro government has not rejected a possible presidential election, but instead demands the lifting of the economic sanctions imposed by the United States and that the funds of his government frozen abroad be released.

In fact, on the eve of this conference, the Venezuelan president stated that Washington’s release of 3.2 billion dollars is essential for any reactivation of the negotiating table with the opponents.

“If someone of you aspires for the political negotiations (…) to return to Mexico, they only have to do something, that in the official statement that you approve they put the demand that the US Government deposit the 3,200 million dollars sequestered in the bank accounts we have abroad for the social plan signed in Mexico,” Maduro stressed.

“We do not accept less than that conference in Bogotá, the lifting of all sanctions so that Venezuela has commercial freedom, financial freedom, economic freedom of its normal activity,” he remarked.

President Joe Biden, before whom Petro recently mediated for the Maduro government in the White House, maintains that he will not lift the measures against Caracas until he sees “concrete steps” towards a true democracy.

“The persecution of the dictatorship spread to Colombia”: Guaidó arrives in Miami after denouncing his “expulsion”

Guaidó, who arrived in Colombia on Monday, April 24 with the intention of meeting with delegations participating in the conference on Venezuela, assured this Tuesday that he was expelled from the country on a flight to the United States.

In a video, the 39-year-old politician maintained that he was forced to leave the territory, because the “persecution” and “threats” of the Maduro Administration “spread” to Colombia.

“After 60 hours of driving to get to Bogotá, skipping the persecution of the dictatorship, defying the Maduro regime, they are taking me out of Colombia. The persecution of the dictatorship spread, unfortunately, today to Colombia,” said the former deputy, who fled his country after information that the Venezuelan authorities were preparing his arrest.

Shortly after, he confirmed his arrival in Miami and denounced threats against his family.

For its part, the Colombian Foreign Ministry declared that Guaidó was in his nation “irregularly”, for which he asked for his departure.

“In the afternoon, Migration Colombia took Mr. Juan Guaidó, a Venezuelan national who was in Bogotá irregularly, to the El Dorado airport with the intention of verifying his departure on a commercial airline to the United States, during the night,” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out through its Twitter account.

However, Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva said that Colombia “is not a country that expels, it is a country that seeks to enforce the Constitution and the law.”

A day before, the Petro Administration had clarified that Juan Guaidó was not invited to the conference.

In the past, the Venezuelan leader received broad support from the government of former President Iván Duque, but today the situation has changed with his diminished leadership role and a first left-wing president in Colombia who is promoting the resumption of relations with Maduro not only with Bogotá but with the rest of the world.

With local media