Acting President Delcy Rodríguez shakes hands with a worker at a factory visit. Photo: Venezuelan Presidential Press.
“Agreements were reached where we will work together to recover the gold that is in England, gold that belongs to Venezuelans,” said Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez on Friday, reporting on the progress made in the first stage of the dialogue between representatives of the Venezuelan government and a sector of the far-right opposition that controlled the 2015 National Assembly.
The acting president highlighted that this agreement will provide space for joint work to rescue the country’s gold reserves seized by the United Kindom in the Bank of England and allocate them to the reconstruction of areas affected by the June 24 earthquakes.
“I once again welcome the agreements reached in this first stage of dialogue between representatives of the Venezuelan government and representatives of an opposition sector of the 2015 Assembly. Agreements were reached that the country should know about, because they are solid agreements for the benefit of our people,” Rodríguez remarked during a visit to the Metalblanc metallurgical company in Catia, in western Caracas, on August 14.
She praised the exercise of political consensus as a tool at the service of citizens. “When politics speaks, agrees, and reaches consensus for the benefit of the country and for the benefit of our citizens, that is the true politics that we uphold,” she said.
Along these lines, she explained that the recovered funds will be used for the reconstruction of the country, to mitigate the impact of the double earthquake of June 24. “That gold can be used for the recovery and reconstruction of the areas impacted by the double earthquake, for the recovery of Venezuela. It is our country’s gold, it is the gold that belongs to Venezuela,” she emphasized.
Judicial reform, the other point on the agenda
Gold was not the only topic on the table. The acting president added that the two delegations also advanced in consensus to undertake a thorough reform of the Venezuelan justice system, a proposal that the government itself had put on the national agenda since the beginning of the year, with the aim of streamlining and guaranteeing citizens’ access to judicial protection.
“We also reached agreements for a process of transformation, as I have asked for since the beginning of the year, of justice in Venezuela, a true justice, a justice where citizens have access without any type of disturbance, corruption, extortion, or bureaucracy,” Rodríguez said.
Conclusion of the first dialogue cycle
The acting president’s statements come after the Venezuelan government and the delegation of former deputies of the 2015 National Assembly concluded, on August 12 in Caracas, the first cycle of conversations that began on August 6.
According to Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly and coordinator of the dialogue for the Venezuelan government, the agenda for that first phase included five technical sessions and five inter-delegational plenary meetings, organized around two main agendas: one focused on the earthquake emergency and the other on strengthening democracy and the judicial and electoral powers.
On the social and humanitarian front, both delegations agreed to concentrate efforts for the recovery of Venezuela’s assets seized by the Bank of England, so that these funds could be used to reinforce priority state programs in housing, electricity, health, and debris removal in areas affected by the June 24 earthquake.
On the institutional front, the parties also agreed to initiate a reform process for the Organic Law of the Supreme Court of Justice and other laws of the judicial system, which includes the selection of all Supreme Court magistrates through a new nomination process.
At the close of that first round, Delcy Rodríguez had described the result as a “first step” in the dialogue process. “I trust that this process will contribute to building a path for better democratic coexistence among the country’s different political sectors and that it will translate into concrete benefits for Venezuelans,” she said then, calling for other political forces to join the dialogues.
(Telesur)
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SC
