Above photo: Colombian President Gustavo Petro (C) in New York, U.S., April 16, 2023. Twitter/ @BluRadioCo.
Caracas, Venezuela – Given the complete failure of Juan Guaido to garner support as an “interim president” and the breakdown of talks between the Venezuelan government and opposition figures in Mexico City, the State Department has started a new strategy to undermine the Bolivarian revolution: an international conference in Bogota. According to Colombian Foreign Minister, Alvaro Leyva, the full spectrum of the Venezuelan opposition–from the left to the right–is invited to participate. France, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil, the U.S. and Canada are also expected to have representatives at the table.
On March 28, President of Colombia Gustavo Petro, tweeted that Colombia will “convene an international meeting [on April 25] to build the road map that allows effective dialogue between society and the Venezuelan government.” This initiative has the mark of the influence of Washington. On November 5, 2022, Armando Benedetti, the Colombian ambassador to Venezuela, said in an interview with the Colombian newspaper El Espectador, “everything we have done with Venezuela has been done in consultation with the United States.” It is therefore likely that Petro has taken on this initiative in consultation with the U.S. Indeed, on April 20, Petro will meet with President Biden at the White House just days before the conference.
On the morning of March 29, just hours after Petro’s announcement, EFE reported that the U.S. State Department supports Petro’s proposal. That night, Diosdado Cabello, Vice President of the PSUV and Deputy in the National Assembly, in his Tv program number 425 of Mazo Dando Diosdado Cabello in response to this EFE report, said that Venezuela would participate in the negotiations only if the United States first eliminates the sanctions against the Venezuelan people.
Jorge Rodriguez, President of Venezuela’s National Assembly, and government emissary for the stalled talks in Mexico City, did not weigh in on the issue; it is noteworthy, however, that Rodriquez had previously insisted that the problems among Venezuelans should be resolved by Venezuelans.
So it should be no surprise that despite a media frenzy in Colombia in anticipation of Petro’s international conference on Venezuela, Caracas was in no hurry to issue an official response. This proposal will take the dialogue between the Venezuelan government and opposition out of Mexico, where there is at least some measure of impartiality, to Colombia which is home to a large number of opponents of the Bolivarian project, and the territory from which paramilitary operations and assassination attempts have been launched against the Venezuelan government.
On April 17, Petro said that a result of the conference should be that there be “no sanctions” [against Venezuela] and “much more democracy”. This call for ending sanctions was a welcome gesture in Caracas. With this pronouncement, after 20 long days of guarded silence, Maduro declared “I told the foreign minister to convey to Gustavo Petro complete support for the success of the conference.” The meaning of “success” however, depends on the ultimate aims of the parties involved. The call for “much more democracy” is double speak for the U.S. campaign to undermine the Bolivarian revolution. This is likely to take the form of demands on Venezuela to permit those who have been prohibited from running for office due to acts of terrorism to participate in elections, including the presidential elections to be held next year. For the government of Venezuela” success” would include an end to sanctions and freedom for Venezuelan diplomat, Alex Saab.
William Camacaro is Venezuelan-American. He is a Senior Analyst for the Council on Hemispheric Affairs.