Venezuela's Path for Peace: Dialogue Without Hidden Agenda

The conspiracies that were dismantled in recent months by Venezuelan intelligence agencies reveal that some sectors of the Venezuelan opposition are staunchly against peace and sovereignty for the country.

These five conspiracies which, when dismantled, led to the identification of at least 37 military personnel and civilians involved. Once arrested, these individuals provided information that the Venezuelan authorities systematized and presented to the public. The participation of members of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Colombian intelligence, who recruited the conspirators, stands out, although US authorities deny their involvement.

President Nicolás Maduro, who in his annual report at the beginning of January informed the country about these criminal activities, has recently pointed out that this situation is endangering the Barbados Agreements signed by the government and the Unitary Platform of the opposition.

“Today the Barbados Agreements are mortally wounded, I say they are in intensive care, they were stabbed, they were kicked,” President Maduro said on Friday, January 25, during a government event. His comment is specifically related to one of the points of the agreements, which explicitly calls for rejection of any form of political violence against Venezuela and its institutions.

His statements are not limited to condemning the anti-Chavista groups which, in 2014 and 2017 caused significant harm to the nation, both in terms of fatalities and injuries, and destruction of infrastructure and disturbance of public order. In response, the president has placed his confidence in the possibility of saving the political-diplomatic effort through dialogue without any hidden intentions.

The Venezuelan government is acting according to these manifest intentions. On January 25, the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, declared in a press conference that he will deliver to the head of the Unitary Platform’s delegation to the dialogue, Gerardo Blyde, the evidence of the opposition’s participation in the conspiracies, and added that he will “wait for the position of the eight people of the Unitary Platform who signed that document [in Barbados].”

Venezuela Responds to US Denial of Involvement in Recent Coup Plots (+Moral Compass)

Similarly, the vice president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, held a meeting with the heads of diplomatic missions of the European Union countries in Caracas, where she provided official information on the political, economic, social and pre-electoral situation of Venezuela, within the framework of the political dialogue.

The European ambassadors expressed their support for the Barbados agreements and showed their willingness to discuss with the Venezuelan authorities the possibility of setting up a EU electoral observation mission, subject to the lifting of the unilateral coercive measures.

The reactivation of the insurrectional and destabilizing agenda comes in a context when the Venezuelan economy continues to grow. The majority of the population therefore still resents the insurrectionary political positions that promoted violence and called for sanctions.

The Venezuelan government has made it clear that the only path it is willing to follow is that of “real national consensus agreements, face to face, without any hidden agenda, without sinister plans to assassinate me or us, or to create violence in the country,” as expressed by President Maduro.

The Venezuelan State has the duty and obligation to guarantee the stability of its institutions. Therefore the dismantling of coup attempts and terrorist conspiracies cannot become an excuse for opposition sectors to ask the international community to intervene in Venezuela’s internal affairs. A climate of violence would harm the economic recovery of the country and must be condemned by all sectors in Venezuela.

(Misión Verdad)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/SC/DZ