Briefing

Maduro: “You Want To Negotiate? These Are My Conditions”

Maduro said he agrees with Norwegian mediation but he mentioned his demands: lifting all sanctions, recognizing his authorities and illegitimate public powers and access to accounts and funds abroad: “You want to negotiate? These are my conditions and we’ll go wherever you want.” 

Naky Soto
  • Juan Guaidó assured on Wednesday that the process with Norway is officially underway, in order to achieve a space for negotiating with Maduro, to approve the Agreement for National Salvation. 
    • In the next few days, they’ll appoint representatives that will represent the caretaker government that could be installed anywhere. 
    • Guaidó said that it wasn’t true that Venezuela had received 1.3 million doses of the Chinese vaccine and emphasized that the advances made in the negotiation would be communicated throughout the entire process by the designated delegates. 
    • He celebrated Henrique Capriles joining the efforts for an agreement and said they’re still talking to other sectors who are more skeptical: “ I celebrate, respect and thank everyone (…) There are differences but Venezuela is above all that (…) it’s an achievement, a defeat for the dictatorship, the more united we are the harder their defeat because this dictatorship is fractured,” he said. 
    • Guaidó reiterated that the agreement seeks a solution to the humanitarian crisis, vaccines against COVID-19, an electoral calendar and a definitive way out of the crisis. He thinks an isolated election like the regional elections scheduled for this year or a referendum next year (which he doubts can actually happen), don’t lead to a real solution. 
  • The senior director of the NSC for the Western Hemisphere Juan González said that the U.S. won’t stop pressuring the regime if the negotiations fail. González emphasized that the U.S. has been clear regarding the criteria that must be met in a negotiation in Venezuela: “The negotiation must be serious, concrete, irreversible and with a clear time frame.”
    • Maduro said he agrees with Norwegian mediation but he mentioned his demands: lifting all sanctions, recognizing his authorities and illegitimate public powers and access to accounts and funds abroad: “You want to negotiate? These are my conditions and we’ll go wherever you want.” 
  • The same day Bolivia received a new shipment of Pfizer vaccines through COVAX, the regime reiterated that the alleged economic blockade has prohibited buying the vaccine. Delcy Rodríguez said that there’s “a political bias” against Venezuela in the IMF and that “they’re still using the same opaque mechanisms to classify financial realities.” 
    • The Venezuelan State doesn’t publish its budget l, which increases corruption and makes the risk higher. Rodríguez requested the Portuguese representative to release the funds frozen by Novo Banco to be managed by the UN. 
  • José Manuel Suárez Maldonado was sworn in as the governor of Vargas, to finish the constitutional period for the next five months. 
  • The “protector” of Táchira, Freddy Bernal, reported that, by request of the Cúcuta Chamber of Commerce, had a meeting to discuss the details preparing for reopening the border with Colombia starting June 1st. 
  • Maduro’s Assembly deputy Liliana González, anunció que fueron aprobados en primera discusión los proyectos de Ley de Ciudades Comunales y del Parlamento Comunal Nacional. 
  • There are more protests every day in the country demanding a nationwide vaccination plan and condemning the method to select which citizens are vaccinated using the carnet de la patria. 
  • The National Academy of Medicine exhorted the regime to consider the possibility of allowing the entrance of  AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. 
  • Two months after the El Ripial massacre in Apure, PROVEA, FundaRedes and Fundación Amparo demanded the prosecutor general to provide information: “The lack of investigation provides favorable conditions for border states to be subject to abuse.”
  • The National Journalists Guild demanded the release of Ronald Carreño, who’s been in prison for seven months. 
  • In April, the Defenders and Justice Center registered 115 attacks and security incidents against human rights defenders. 
  • The commissioners and presidents of ad hoc boards appointed by the caretaker government will have an accountability session before the National Assembly elected in 2015. Journalists and deputies will be allowed to ask questions. 

  • FARC dissident Jesús Santrich was allegedly murdered in Zulia, but chavismo uses police officers from that state, to celebrate their authorities: around 200 PoliZulia officers stood in formation to spell “happy birthday, governor” for Omar Prieto.
  • Colombian vice president and Foreign minister Marta Lucía Ramírez reiterated Colombia’s commitment to restoring democracy in Venezuela, during a meeting with Carlos Vecchio in Washington.
  • The U.S. Embassy in Spain reiterated they’re offering a ten million dollar reward to anyone who can provide information that leads to the arrest of Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal.

Naky Soto

Naky gets called Naibet at home and at the bank. She coordinates training programs for an NGO. She collects moments and turns them into words. She has more stories than freckles.

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