It will be about 3,000 million dollars and will be financed with frozen resources of the Venezuelan State that are essentially in Europe.
With the creation of a social fund administered by the United Nations, the Venezuelan government and the opposition are preparing to resume negotiations in Mexico in the coming days, which were suspended more than a year ago.
After a rapprochement between the parties in Paris, the delegates of President Nicolás Maduro and the opposition hope to revive the talks this month with the creation of a “social solidarity fund,” two sources familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press who spoke to condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to make statements.
The social fund, of some 3,000 million dollars, will be financed with frozen resources from the Venezuelan State that are essentially found in Europe, and will be made available in its entirety to attend health and food programs, and the deteriorated public electrical system.
The resources of the fund will be released in a period of three years, as planned, but the disbursements will be subject to the progress of the projects. The fund will be managed by the United Nations, but will have observers from the government and the opposition.
The formation of the fund, which the parties have been discussing for about two months, is seen as a gesture of good faith to promote a new stage of negotiations between Maduro’s delegates and the opposition with the facilitation of Norway and the support of several governments. .
Other themes
As part of the new stage of talks, it is expected to discuss the extension of the operating license of the US oil company Chevron and the political guarantees that would include the definition of the conditions for the next elections, the release of political prisoners and the withdrawal of political disqualifications. .
Colombian President Gustavo Petro expressed on Friday his support for the rapprochement between representatives of the Maduro government and the opposition to resume the dialogues suspended since October last year in Mexico.
“Undoubtedly there is progress, a development of the negotiating tables in Mexico, which this group supports,” Petro told the press in Paris, noting that during the interventions of the Venezuelan delegates, it became clear that the resolution of the political conflict in Venezuela is possible, particularly taking into account that it “has not brought to its interior a violent outcome as in other countries we have had to live.”
The head of the opposition delegation, Gerardo Blyde, indicated that there is still no date to resume talks in Mexico, but he expressed his desire that “it be as soon as possible.”
Blyde appreciated the French president’s initiative to promote dialogue and his commitment to democracy. He stressed that Macron, beyond this conviction, “understands that solutions must be sought” and that “we cannot remain static in a photograph.”
“The world changes and so do the needs”, he added.
Also present were Argentine President Alberto Fernández and a representative of the Norwegian government, one of the guarantor countries of the dialogues in Mexico.
Petro urged the heads of the Venezuelan delegation to facilitate a “de-escalation of the political conflict.”
He listed the points on which Caracas must advance: “Venezuela’s entry into the Inter-American Human Rights System, a general amnesty, a general unlocking of the Venezuelan economy, elections that by the year 2024 must give guarantees to all the forces that are there. intervene and where the expression is that of the sovereign people of Venezuela, who will decide”.
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