In the pre-election scenario that exists today in Venezuela, ahead of the 2024 presidential elections, Clashes between Chavismo and the opposition have become more and more frequent.
However, there is one aspect in which both sectors now agree: that the sanctions imposed on the country by the United States and the European Union (EU) have undermined the much-weakened economy from Caracas. Therefore, lifting the restrictions is no longer only a request from Chavismo, but also from various opponents and from the country’s unions.
“If there is a consensus today in Venezuela, it is the consensus of rejection and repudiation of the sanctions of the United States, because they are sanctions against an entire country, such a powerful and great consensus had never been achieved before,” the president acknowledged this week. Nicolás Maduro on his television show.
According to the Venezuelan Anti-Blockade Observatory —official group—, the measures against the country add up to more than 930. Most of them in a personal capacity against officials accused of harming democracy.
For the Government, these sanctions, which began during the presidency of Barack Obama in 2015, they left the country without 99 percent of its income, which translates into more than 300,000 million dollars in losses, since the blockade prevents transactions by companies, including Petróleos de Venezuela, the country’s main economic source.
(Also read: Concern in Venezuela over the State’s decision to intervene in the Red Cross)
And although the opposition used this resource for years as a flag to pressure Maduro’s departure, the discourse seems to be changing. The Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), the largest anti-Chavista coalition, recently announced that it is not in opposition to the lifting of sanctions, as long as there is a “reestablishment of constitutional guarantees” agreed upon in an agreement within the framework of the negotiation process that it maintains with the government in Mexico.
“If they want (the sanctions) to be suspended and the violations (to the Constitution) to be maintained, things get complicated there. We agree with both things (an end to sanctions and violations of the Constitution), but together, not separately,” said the bloc’s secretary, Omar Barboza.
Leaders like Henrique Capriles himself have also said that the sanctions “failed”, and even the country’s business leadership —traditionally opposed to Chavismo— joined the request to lift the measures.
(You may be interested: Maduro denies recession in Venezuela and projects economic growth)
“No country wants to be sanctioned. The Venezuelan who says he wants sanctions is crazy. We obviously ask that the sanctions be lifted, that has only impoverished the country,” said Adán Celis, president of the Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Production (Fedecámaras), a few days ago.
On the contrary, other opponents such as María Corina Machado —who leads the intention to vote for the opposition primaries— or Juan Guaidó, who came to be recognized as interim president by more than 50 countries, reiterate that these opinions they are a “tool” against the “dictatorship”, which they describe as the true cause of the Venezuelan economic “suffocation”.
What is the Venezuelan opposition looking for now?
But the truth is that the figures presented by the pollster Datanálisis show that 74 percent of Venezuelans are against the sanctions. In the case of companies, the disagreement with the penalties amounts to 88 percent.
The government of Nicolás Maduro has repeatedly asked for the restrictions to be lifted, but in exchange he has been required to give favorable signs to the opposition.
However, the sanctions against Machado and the paralysis of the dialogue table with the opposition in Mexico show that the hostility continues against the opponents of Chavismo. Hence Many sectors express their surprise that the detractors of the ruling party no longer see the measures as viable.
(Also: Why did the hopes of a democratic exit in Venezuela in 2023 vanish?)
Diosdado Cabello, first vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, assured in a march this week that sectors of the opposition show interest in eliminating the measures just because they seek to “win” the vote of citizens facing the 2024 presidential elections, knowing that the majority of Venezuelans are against them.
“If there had not been sanctions here, blockades by imperialism, there would be no problems here,” Cabello said.
The economic reality of the country is far above any political strategy
On this point, the political scientist and consultant Pablo Andrés Quintero considers that The opposition is not using the issue of sanctions to get closer to the Venezuelan“but rather to avoid falling into the temptation of threats from the Government”, since the administration constantly threatens those who request measures against the country.
(You can read: Opposition insists on going to primaries while Chavismo threatens disqualifications)
“Also the economic reality of the country is far above any political strategy. Before, obviously, the international strategy was that the reinforcement of the sanctions was what would cause a change of government”, Quintero comments to EL TIEMPO.
For the analyst, there is also no “correlation” between the empathy that people may feel and the opponent who calls for the lifting of sanctions, but rather, the opposition is negatively appreciated by failing to comply with Maduro’s departure. “An opposition reinforcing the idea of applying more sanctions it would increase people’s belief that there is an opposition that is simply working against the grain of the national interest”, says the analyst.
(Keep reading: The keys to understanding the new recession in Venezuela and how this affects Colombia)
The lawyer and consultant Giulio Cellini, director of LOG Consultancy, says for his part that continuing to see sanctions as an end would leave Venezuela in the same Cuban situation, that has been blocked and sanctioned for years and without any political progress. “In the end, everything has been reduced to problems for the citizenry,” she points out.
For this reason, he affirms that, beyond the political, lifting the sanctions could contribute to the large foreign investments that left the country and, ultimately, benefit the population.
ANA MARIA RODRIGUEZ BRAZON
WEATHER CORRESPONDENT
CARACAS
#motivated #Venezuelan #opposition #join #call #eliminate #sanctions