Caracas (AFP) – The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, assured this Monday that his government is about to sign “beneficial agreements” on the next presidential elections with members of the opposition, during negotiations that will resume on October 17 in Barbados.
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“We are on the verge of agreements beneficial for the country within the framework of the law and the Constitution, I can say that these agreements will be very beneficial for peace, because peace must be taken care of, they will be very beneficial for the upcoming elections,” he said. the president in his weekly program.
Maduro stated that the agreements contemplate “electoral guarantees” through the use of an automated system, with fingerprint capture, as well as the “guarantee” of prior and subsequent audits.
“We are on the verge of starting a new round of signing documents for electoral guarantees to guarantee an electoral party in the upcoming elections,” remarked the political heir of Hugo Chávez and Chavismo candidate for a third re-election in 2024.
The parties announced this Monday that they will return to a political negotiation process with a meeting in Barbados where the United States will also participate.
The talks – which begin on Tuesday in Bridgetown – take place shortly after an agreement between Nicolás Maduro and Washington to deport undocumented Venezuelans, despite not formally recognizing him as president, and on the eve of the opposition primary elections scheduled for the 22nd. October.
The talks, which until now had taken place in Mexico, began in August 2021 but in October of that year they were suspended after the extradition to the United States of businessman Alex Saab, accused of money laundering and accused of being Maduro’s front man.
They were briefly resumed, but in November 2022 there was a new rupture after the Maduro government conditioned the dialogue on the disbursement of $3 billion of frozen Venezuelan funds abroad.
Experts estimate that a first agreement may emerge from the meeting in Barbados in which, in exchange for making sanctions more flexible, opposition primaries will be allowed, an electoral schedule will be drawn up for 2024, political prisoners will be released and, the highest point on the agenda , lifting political disqualifications is being studied.
Maduro, for his part, questioned “false leaks” prior to the new dialogues.
“Do not lie, do not lie, do not lie, Venezuela is working very wisely to do justice and we will continue to move forward, I will not say more because I respect the agreements,” he said.
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