By Satyaki Chakraborty
The struggling leftwing government in Venezuela led by President Nicholas Maduro scored a major political victory on November 26 when the government leaders reached a social agreement in Mexico city with the rightwing opposition of the country’s national assembly to create a fund managed by the United Nations to finance health, food and education programmes for the poor.
The deal was very politically significant as the rightwing opposition was not recognizing President Maduro as the legally elected president of the nation and was not participating in any deliberations conducted by the leftwing government. The United States administration as well as some other nations close to the US gave support to the Venezuelan right and created problems for the country’s economy by blocking exports of some of the essential food products.
The broad terms of the deal were announced by the head of a group of Norwegian diplomats guiding the negotiations.“We have identified a set of resources belonging to the Venezuelan state, frozen in the global financial system, to which it is possible to access,” said Norwegian envoy Dag Nylander.
In Britain, Venezuela Solidarity Campaign national secretary Francisco Domingues said: “Venezuela is rescuing $3 billion that belongs to the nation but had been illegally retained by financial institutions as part of the U.S. policy of sanctions supported with the complicity of the European Union and the UK.”
Venezuelan government delegation leader Jorge Rodrigues has already announced that the money “will be devoted to improve health provision, education, and electricity generation,” Mr. Domingues said. He added that the agreement also signalled that “the so-called interim president Juan Guaidó has politically ceased to exist, as has the U.S. policy of regime change.”President Maduro tweeted that the agreement “opens the way for a new chapter for Venezuela, in order to continue advancing towards peace and well-being that all Venezuelans yearn for.”
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres hailed the social agreement as “an important milestone that has the potential to deliver broader benefits for the people of Venezuela” and expressed the world body’s commitment to supporting both parties in implementing it.
The deal had an immediate impact on Venezuela-US relations. Washington agreed to allow U.S. energy giant Chevron to pump Venezuelan oil. Venezuela govt officials said the social agreement is another victory for Bolivarian Venezuela and for President Maduro’s policy of principled resistance to imperialist aggression, combined with a desire for peace that puts the welfare of its people at the centre of government action. According to the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign, over $20bn belonging to the country has been illegally retained by financial institutions around the world under the 763 sanctions imposed by the U.S.
According to the deal, the money made from selling electricity will be used to settle Venezuela’s debt to Chevron. The accord was praised as a “historic milestone” by the Norwegian mediator Dag Nylander, who also noted that Venezuelans alone could end the country’s predicament.
Juan Guaido, the head of the opposition, was recognised as the nation’s legitimate leader by dozens of nations, including the US, Canada, and the EU. The administration of Donald Trump increased economic penalties against Maduro’s regime and gave Guaido the right to seize control of Caracas’s bank accounts in US financial institutions.
Due to the sanctions, high inflation rate was witnessed, which led to a lack of food and medication. According to UN estimates, more than 7.1 million Venezuelans have left the nation, with many of them moving to other countries in Latin America or the US. The opposition is pressing for the holding of general elections in Venezuela in 2024 (IPA Service)
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