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US calls on Maduro and Guaido to stand down in Venezuela transition plan
Source: The Guardian
US calls on Maduro and Guaidó to stand down in Venezuela transition plan
• Plan includes five-member council and sanctions relief
• Sceptics see little incentive for government leaders
Julian Borger in Washington
Tue 31 Mar 2020 18.56 BST
First published on Tue 31 Mar 2020 17.51 BST
The US has proposed a political transition plan for Venezuela, offering to lift sanctions if the president, Nicolás Maduro, and his opponent, Juan Guaidó, step aside and pass power to an interim government made up of their supporters.
Under the “democratic transition framework”, all political prisoners would be released, and all foreign – principally Cuban – forces would leave. A five-member council of state would be selected, with two members chosen by the opposition, two by Maduro’s Socialist party, and the fifth member picked by the other four. The military high command would remain in place.
“The hope is that this set-up promotes the selection of people who are very broadly respected and known as people who can work with the other side,” the US special representative for Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, told the Associated Press.
The US and EU would then lift sanctions on the current leadership. Broader sanctions on the country’s oil business would be lifted after all foreign forces had left the country. All sanctions would be lifted after free elections, to be held within six to 12 months.
The proposal comes five days after the US indicted Maduro and top members of his government and army for drug trafficking and money laundering, and as Venezuela faces blanket sanctions, a collapse in the price of oil, its main export, and the coronavirus pandemic, with a crippled health system.
-snip-
• Plan includes five-member council and sanctions relief
• Sceptics see little incentive for government leaders
Julian Borger in Washington
Tue 31 Mar 2020 18.56 BST
First published on Tue 31 Mar 2020 17.51 BST
The US has proposed a political transition plan for Venezuela, offering to lift sanctions if the president, Nicolás Maduro, and his opponent, Juan Guaidó, step aside and pass power to an interim government made up of their supporters.
Under the “democratic transition framework”, all political prisoners would be released, and all foreign – principally Cuban – forces would leave. A five-member council of state would be selected, with two members chosen by the opposition, two by Maduro’s Socialist party, and the fifth member picked by the other four. The military high command would remain in place.
“The hope is that this set-up promotes the selection of people who are very broadly respected and known as people who can work with the other side,” the US special representative for Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, told the Associated Press.
The US and EU would then lift sanctions on the current leadership. Broader sanctions on the country’s oil business would be lifted after all foreign forces had left the country. All sanctions would be lifted after free elections, to be held within six to 12 months.
The proposal comes five days after the US indicted Maduro and top members of his government and army for drug trafficking and money laundering, and as Venezuela faces blanket sanctions, a collapse in the price of oil, its main export, and the coronavirus pandemic, with a crippled health system.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/31/venezuela-us-transition-plan-maduro-guaido
