Venezuela's Gov't to Bring 5 Proposals to Dialogue Table

Venezuela’s Minister of Communication and Information Jorge Rodriguez said that his government will bring five concrete proposals to a possible dialogue table, which the “Contact Group on Venezuela”, convened by the European Union and Uruguay, seeks to set up.

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"We will propose: one, respect for Venezuela’s sovereignty; two, respect for Venezuela's right to peace; three, lifting of sanctions; four, the establishment of a mechanism whereby the government and the opposition can resolve their differences through peaceful means; five, non-interference by other countries and other governments into Venezuela’s internal affairs," Minister Rodriguez said in an interview with Sputnik.

Regarding the call for new elections, Rodriguez stressed that 2018 presidential elections, in which Nicolas Maduro was elected as President for the 2019-2025 term, satisfied the most rigorous technical standards.

"Besides satisfying international standards, [last] presidential elections were held in compliance with the standards of the Venezuelan electoral system, which is one of the world’s most secure systems," Rodriguez said, adding that Venezuela's voting system is undoubtedly more reliable than those of the United States, Spain and Colombia.

Despite such facts, the Venezuelan opposition argues that the elections held on May 20, 2018 were not backed by the guarantees they demanded at the Dominican Republic dialogues, which took place in January 2018.

"The opponents’ boycott of the 2019 Venezuelan presidential election was aimed at creating arguments to start the aggression against Venezuela which they are currently trying to carry out," Rodriguez said, recalling that "such boycott began even before the Dominican Republic negotiations."

In this regard, Minister Rodriguez explained that, since Juan Guaido is an opposition lawmaker from a parliament in contempt, his recognition as president in charge is an act which has no constitutional grounds.

"It is purely an aggression, an unconstitutional intention which seeks to replace a duly elected government on May 20, 2018," Rodriguez said and added that the leader of such an action is "a man who has not been elected by anoyne other than 75,000 people who voted for him to be a lawmaker in Vargas, a small state at the north of Venezuela."