The negotiations between the Maduro government and the Unitary Platform of the opposition have reached just over a month amid bickering between the sides, which accuse each other of trying to implode the process.

While the National Assembly under Chavista majority quickly approved a judicial reform promoted by MPs Cilia Flores and Diosdado Cabello, the talks seem to have taken a step backward with the breach of the memorandum of understanding denounced by the delegations and the delay in the implementation of partial humanitarian agreements.

Here is a recount of the events that have taken place alongside the negotiation process mediated by the Kingdom of Norway:

More sanctions

Two days after the delegations signed two partial agreements in Mexico City, the United States Ambassador to Venezuela, James Story, warned that if the ruling party fails to keep up to its commitments, it will be subject to more sanctions.

“We are always working together with all the countries of the international community and considering new sanctions in case negotiations do not yield positive results,” said the diplomat.

The warning was not well received by Nicolás Maduro, who accused the US government, the Colombian government, and the Venezuelan opposition of wanting to “implode the dialogue.”

“Given the advances of the dialogue in Mexico and the signing of two powerful agreements, I see a reaction on social media, with a sector that supports Guaidó wanting to implode the talks; a reaction from [Colombian President] Duque and the United States, who also want to implode the dialogue,” Maduro replied.

Alex Saab at the table

The negotiation table began to falter with the proposal of the Chavista delegation to incorporate businessman Alex Saab to the talks and to the National Board of Social Assistance that was approved in the first humanitarian agreement signed by the delegations on September 6 but that has yet to materialize.

Saab is imprisoned in Cape Verde awaiting extradition to the United States. According to the US Department of Justice, between November 2011 and September 2015, Saab and his associate, Álvaro Pulido, plotted to launder illicit money and transfer it from Venezuela to bank accounts in the United States.

Saab is also accused of being an alleged front man for Nicolás Maduro.

The opposition reacted to the announcement of the ruling party with a statement asking Norway to remind the government delegation to “guarantee compliance with the agreed rules or reservations that govern the process.”

“We are not going to get distracted from the agenda of the process in Mexico: Venezuelans need a comprehensive agreement that gives us back democracy and the possibility of getting out of the massive social, economic, and political crisis that affects us all,” stated the Unitary Platform.

Justice reform

Without the participation of various sectors of the country, the National Assembly dominated by the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (Psuv) quickly approved five bills related to the justice system.

The reformed norms are the Decree of the Law on the Statute of the Function of the Police for Criminal Scientific Investigation and Criminalistics; the Organic Code of Military Justice; the Law on the Protection of Victims, Witnesses and other Procedural Subjects; the Organic Penitentiary Code, and the Organic Code of Criminal Procedure.

The reinstitutionalization of Venezuela’s Judicial Power will be one of the points that will be addressed in the second round of negotiations expected to begin on September 24 in the Mexican capital.

The International Criminal Court

The United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela presented a second report to the United Nations Human Rights Council in which it warns that the Venezuelan justice system is complicit in the systematic violation of human rights in the country.

The document constitutes one more input for the Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Court (ICC), who must decide whether to open a formal investigation against Nicolás Maduro and senior officials of his government for the alleged commission of crimes against humanity.

The Assets

The intervention of Colombia’s Superintendency of Corporations in Monómeros, a subsidiary of Venezuelan public petrochemical company Pequiven, and the letter released by Ofac proposing the sale of Citgo shares as early as January 2022, was taken by the ruling party as an affront to the dialogue.

Maduro’s representatives accuse the opposition of conducting an operation of “looting and theft” of the national treasure, thereby violating clause 3 of the memorandum of understanding that establishes the lifting of sanctions and the restoration of asset rights.

Several bank accounts with public funds from big state-owned companies like Monómeros and Citgo became controlled by the interim government after the recognition of Juan Guaidó as president in charge of Venezuela.

“It is with surprise and shame that the country has witnessed in the last hours a series of serious events and dangerous public statements that show the criminal nature of the operation of looting and robbing of the national treasure under the protection of the self-proclaimed interim government, a strategy designed abroad and executed by internal political operators, ” argues Chavismo in the statement.

Faced with the allegations, Guaidó announced the restructuring of the Monómeros board of directors, promised that the company will continue to be owned by Venezuelans, and ordered an external audit, but did not clarify whether the complaints about the breach of protocols against money laundering and other irregularities will be investigated by the Legislative Delegate Commission.

Opposition party Voluntad Popular also reacted by warning that some politicians were trying to hand over control over “protected” assets to the Maduro government in exchange for the lifting of the administrative interdiction that prevents them from running in elections.

Feeling addressed by the statement, the coordinator of Primero Justicia, Julio Borges, answered to deny that the handover of the assets makes part of the negotiations.

Maduro at the CELAC summit

The participation of Nicolás Maduro at the VI Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States was attributed to the talks. Some analysts maintain that this represents a victory for Chavismo since the Venezuelan ruler gathered with presidents who enjoy representativeness and legitimacy and returned to the world scene “in style.”

Translated by José Rafael Medina