The President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, said this on Thursday Barbados's agreements with the opposition for the presidential election 'are being fatally violated' after allegations of assassination “plans” against him.
“The Barbados Accords are mortally violated, I declare them in intensive care. They were stabbed, they were kicked. “Hopefully today we can save the agreements and, through dialogue, impose major agreements with a truly national consensus, without plans to assassinate or destroy me or us because of the violence in the country,” he explained.
Hours earlier, the President of the Venezuelan National Assembly and head of the official delegation to the negotiations, Jorge Rodríguez, had referred to the agreement and has ruled out the opposition's “unity” candidate for the 2024 presidential election, María Corina Machado can run in the elections.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab reported this week on the arrests in recent months of dozens of people – including journalists, former soldiers, lawyers and activists – who were allegedly involved in coup plots and the assassination of Maduro, who blamed the US Central Intelligence Agency , the CIA and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to support the “Venezuelan far right” in their dismantled attempts to end his life.
“Progress” in the Guyana dispute
On the other hand, the Foreign Minister of Venezuela, Yvan Gil, stated this Thursday that he had made “significant progress” in “consolidating a constructive and sustainable dialogue within the framework of the first meeting of the Joint Commission with Guyana” with regard to the Essequibo dispute: territory , which is controlled by Georgetown but claimed by Caracas as its own.
“Venezuela wants to ensure that the Essequibo area is free from any foreign military intervention and fulfills the mandate of the Geneva Convention,” said the head of Venezuelan diplomacy through his profile on the social network X, formerly known as Twitter.
Shortly before, the minister emphasized that it is “essential to highlight the direct talks” between the two countries “They represent the only way to find a peaceful and harmonious solution” for the disputed area, while emphasizing the need to examine the neighboring country's position and actions regarding the unlimited maritime area.
The territorial dispute dates back to the 19th century, when an 1899 ruling defended from Georgetown called for Venezuela to renounce Essequibo, but this was later revoked. For its part, Caracas relies on the 1966 Geneva Convention signed between the United Kingdom (former colonial power Guyana) and Venezuela, which recognized Essequibo as a disputed territory.
On December 3, Venezuela agreed to annex Essequibo in a referendum. A few days later, the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, presented to the National Assembly an organic law establishing the state of Guayana Esequiba, based on the results of the referendum, which, in the eyes of Caracas, had moved from an advisory to a binding law.