Venezuela: US Dented Dialogue Process in Mexico

Deputy Chairman of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, blamed the U.S., saying that "Venezuela was not the one who kicked the table in Mexico, the one who kicked the table in Mexico was precisely the United States."

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The Venezuelan deputy said in a press conference broadcast by the state-run channel Venezolana de Televisión that the U.S. boycotted the negotiation process by "taking decisions against our country, attacking our country and what we did was to take a position in the face of the aggression." 

In the same vein, Cabello referred to the decision of the administration of Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro to withdraw his delegation from the dialogue table held in Mexico with the Venezuelan opposition political alliance Plataforma Unitaria as a result of the extradition by Washington of diplomat Alex Saab, despite being one of the official negotiators.

Although some may not agree, the "main architect of the dialogue is Maduro," noting that "there is not a speech in which the President does not make a call to join a great national dialogue."

Diosdado Cabello, in a press conference of the PSUV party: When Juan Guaidó says, "we are ready to go to Mexico," he is talking garbage; the dialogue is a victory of President Nicolás Maduro. We are open to dialogue.

The deputy referred to the statements made by the head of the opposition delegation at the negotiation table, Gerardo Blyde, who last May 6 said that "there is a high probability that the Mexico mechanism will be reactivated."

In this connection, Cabello said that the resumption of negotiations in Mexico does not depend on opposition leader Juan Guaidó. "He does not decide that; it is not within the scope of his attributions not even in the smallest bit of the opposition that actually listens to him, of the hundreds of parts in which the opposition is divided," the deputy said. 

Mexico served as the venue for three months of talks between the delegations of the Venezuelan government and the opposition. Both delegations signed a memorandum of understanding consisting of seven points: political rights, electoral guarantees and electoral timetable; lifting of sanctions, respect for the rule of law, political and social coexistence, protection of the social economy, and guarantees of implementation and follow-up.