Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó has called for “national salvation” talks with President Nicolás Maduro that include administration and opposition leaders, as well as international actors. Guaidó said in a video posted on his Twitter account on Tuesday: “Venezuela is experiencing the worst crisis in its entire history,” before imploring, “We must reach an agreement to save Venezuela.” The opposition leader also pled with the international community to relax some of the sanctions on the Maduro regime to bring him to incentivise him to come to the negotiating table. In return, he said that the Maduro administration must work with international actors to secure humanitarian aid and great supplies of COVID-19 vaccines, and also release all 344 political prisoners in the country.
Although he called for free and fair presidential, parliamentary, regional, and municipal elections that are conducted in the presence of international observers, particularly following the highly controversial legislative elections in December, he acknowledged that the focus must remain on finding “realistic and viable solutions.”
Nuestro objetivo es salir de la tragedia y recuperar la democracia. En eso debemos mantener el foco.
— Juan Guaidó (@jguaido) May 11, 2021
Nuestro adversario hoy es la brutal dictadura que enfrentamos.
Este es mi mensaje al país: pic.twitter.com/NjNH7Csu3z
In response to Guaidó’s proposal, Maduro cryptically said at an event later in the day: “In life you have to let things flow ... and what will be, will be,” adding, “We are not going to surrender to North American imperialism and we resisted on the entire front line where we had to resist.” The president then said: “If he [Guaidó] wants to join the dialogues that are already underway, developing on all issues, he is welcome to join.”
In recent weeks, the Maduro administration has appeared more willing to negotiate, particularly with the Biden administration. Last month, he agreed to allow the World Food Programme to set up a base in the country, through which the United Nations agency can now deliver food aid to at least 1.5 million children in the country.
Furthermore, earlier this month, the ruling government allowed the CITGO 6 (five of whom are American citizens), who were arrested on trumped-up corruption charges over three years ago after being falsely lured to the country, to carry out their sentences under house arrest.
The relaxing of their sentence appears to be another effort by Caracas to mend strained ties with Washington, which has imposed a number of crippling sanctions on the country, particularly on its energy industry.
In fact, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said that it was a “goodwill gesture” in lieu of the “agenda of the new White House.” In fact, although Biden and others within his administration have previously called Maduro a dictator, the President has also called Donald Trump’s maximum pressure strategy to push for regime change an “abject failure”.
Against this backdrop, White House and State Department officials have noted that Maduro has been “sending signals” to Washington about improving relations but said that the US continues to insist on free and fair elections.
Moreover, although the Biden administration has sought to distance itself from Trump in terms of its approach to Venezuela, there appears to be little difference. During Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s Senate confirmation hearing in February, he said that Biden government would merely seek to “more effectively target” sanctions on Venezuela, but that its overarching goal remains to remove Maduro from power.
Another anonymous White House official has said, “We are in no rush to lift sanctions.”
Against this backdrop, given the US’ reluctance to relax sanctions, despite the overtures made by Guaidó to ‘save’ Venezuela and the apparent goodwill gestures by Maduro towards the US, there is unlikely to be any significant progression in negotiations.