The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro proposed within the framework of the development of the V Paris Forum for Peace that the unblocking of the Venezuelan economy be incorporated “as part of a humanitarian measure in favor of millions of people who suffered from sexual slavery, many women, child slavery in workplaces, driving towards violence schemes that exist in other countries”.
Likewise, the Colombian president reported in statements offered to the press upon leaving the meeting that he promised “to improve the stay of the Venezuelan people in Colombia for those who want to be there.”
At the end of a meeting at the 5th Paris Forum for Peace, President Petro acknowledged that the “Venezuelan political conflict has not brought about a violent outcome in its interior, as in other countries we have had to experience.”
Petro indicated that both he and the Argentine president had expressed their willingness to “support without intervening” in the negotiations so that there is an agreement that “must be between Venezuelans.”
He considered that this meeting, organized by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, within the framework of the V Paris Forum for Peacehas served as “a greater rapprochement” between the negotiators with a view to “achieving political and social agreements.”
It should be noted that the meeting between Jorge Rodríguez, as plenipotentiary representative for dialogue on the part of the Bolivarian Government, and Gerardo Blyde, as representative of the opposition in Paris, was held in the presence of the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, and the presidents of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, and from France, Emmanuel Macron, as well as the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anniken Huitfeldt, whose country is facilitating the dialogue.
Elections 2024
Through his Twitter account, the Colombian president stressed that “At the table where the French, Norwegian, Argentine, and Venezuelan governments and the Venezuelan opposition are intervening to revitalize the table in Mexico and the Venezuelan political agreement, I proposed unblocking and general amnesty and a coexistence pact for the elections and after them”.
“The Venezuelan political conflict has not brought a violent outcome to its violent interior, as if in other countries that we have had to live in,” Petro said.
He also recognized that there is progress, a development of the negotiating tables in Mexico, which this group, meeting this Friday in France, supports.
There needs to be a de-escalation of the political conflict in terms of Venezuela’s entry into the Inter-American Human Rights System, of a general amnesty, of an unblocking of the Venezuelan economy, of elections that by 2024 must give guarantees to all the forces that intervene there and where the expression is that of the sovereign people of Venezuela”, highlighted the Colombian president.
Petro’s proposal for the negotiation between the parties described it as a “coexistence pact” by which “guarantees would be given to all those who participate in the 2024 elections.”
But he stressed that, for the Venezuelan Government, these guarantees are not possible “for candidates who now have millions of dollars in the US Justice to be killed. That must stop. This is not how elections are held », he said.
“The United States has some variables to play with. It can help in a process of democratic political agreement”, urging Washington to cease the threats.
