Almost a week has passed since the representatives of the government of Nicolás Maduro and the Venezuelan opposition signed an agreement in Mexico in which the official sector managed to unlock 3,000 million dollars. In turn, the United States granted licenses to the oil company Chevron to operate in Venezuela.
(Also read: Venezuela: the uneven economic growth between social classes)
These agreements are part of the negotiation table between both parties, which had been installed in Mexico and suspended a year ago. The opposition has insisted on free and conditional elections while the government has insisted on the lifting of sanctions and the return of Venezuelan assets abroad.
With these first steps, many wondered about the benefits for the opposition in the face of an apparent victory for the government in this process, which now demands further lifting of sanctions. to give way to an electoral process, which according to the Constitution, corresponds to 2024.
(Also read: Why is Maduro the big winner after restarting the dialogue with the opposition?)
We want sanction-free elections.
“We want elections free of sanctions,” Maduro responded this Wednesday during a press conference with international media.
“Do they want free elections? Fair and transparent? Elections free of sanctions, free of unilateral coercive measures, that they remove them all, that they take them all to go to fresh, beautiful elections,” he sentenced.
Chevron is not enough
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, celebrated the authorization of the United States to the energy giant Chevron to operate in the Caribbean country as a step in the “right direction”, although he said that “it is not enough”, calling for a full lifting of Washington’s sanctions.
The US government licenses “without a doubt go in the right direction, although they are not enough for what Venezuela demands, which is the complete lifting of all unilateral coercive measures on the oil industry,” Maduro said at a press conference. .
Chevron was authorized on Saturday to resume its activities in the four joint ventures it has with Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), although the Treasury Department clarified that the state company should not receive income from the sales of the US company.
ANA RODRIGUEZ BRAZON
WEATHER CORRESPONDENT
CARACAS*With information from AFP
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