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Venezuela is mired in a protracted crisis that only its people can resolve, the Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs told the Security Council during a 20 May videoconference meeting*.
“The path of negotiation seems to be stalled,” said Rosemary A. DiCarlo. Attempts at reaching a negotiated solution have been unsuccessful, despite significant international facilitation efforts. “In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, an agreement that strengthens democratic governance, with full respect for human rights and the rule of law, is more urgent than ever.”
She said the Secretary-General has repeatedly called for a negotiated solution among Venezuelans and offered his good offices if requested. “We remain convinced that a real negotiation among Venezuela’s main political actors is the only way forward.” She called on them to resume serious negotiations, and all Member States to stand behind this call.
She briefed the Council at length on the contents of a letter sent by Caracas to the Council President, which stated that, on 3 and 4 May, armed mercenaries and terrorists — “organized, trained, financed and protected” by Colombia and the United States — illegally entered the Venezuelan territory, with the aim of “perpetrating criminal acts” against that country’s people and carrying out selective assassinations of senior Government officials, including President Nicolás Maduro.
Continuing, the Under-Secretary-General said the letter pointed to the involvement of an “extremist sector of the Venezuelan opposition”, referring explicitly to Juan Guaidó. The operation was “frustrated by the Venezuelan authorities”, the letter states, and as of 13 May, the Prosecutor General of Venezuela had confirmed the arrest of 47 people. Colombia and the United States have rejected the charges, she said, as has the leader of the opposition, who called for establishing a “national emergency Government”.
She said there is now heightened concern about the stand-off and absence of any serious negotiations between the main political parties. Until restrictions imposed by the coronavirus forced the suspension of its work, the Applications Committee of the National Assembly — established to select members of the National Electoral Council — was the only formal space bringing together Government and opposition lawmakers. It was poised to lay the groundwork for agreements on the electoral calendar and process. Legislative elections are due before the end of 2020, she recalled.
Noting that opposition members have called for presidential elections to take place together with legislative elections, she called on the main political actors to engage in a negotiation to create conditions conducive to the holding of a credible, inclusive and participatory electoral process.
On the humanitarian front, she said the 2020 Humanitarian Response Plan is expected to request $750 million, in part to support the COVID-19 response. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has received reports that political leaders and journalists reporting on COVID-19 are being detained, and that threats have been made against health workers for expressing concern about the lack of equipment to fight the pandemic or for providing information on the number of cases.
She pointed to nationwide fuel shortages as another concern — an operational constraint for humanitarian organizations trying to sustain their response — and one the Government attributes to unilateral sanctions. While social and economic indicators show that the economic crisis in Venezuela predates the imposition of sanctions, the measures are exacerbating an already critical situation.
Recalling the Secretary-General’s 26 March appeal to waive sanctions that could undermine countries’ capacity to respond to COVID-19, she said the United Nations will continue strengthening its human rights and humanitarian actions in Venezuela, as well as its response to Venezuelan refugees and migrants outside the country. As of early May, close to 5.1 million refugees and migrants have left Venezuela, with more than 80 per cent of them now across Latin America and the Caribbean.
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