The US Transition Plan for Venezuela Is a Mockery, Russia Says

Russia harshly criticized the "Transition Plan" proposed by the United States to solve the political impasse in Venezuela and pointed out that what should be done is to help this country to overcome the humanitarian catastrophe.

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"As a mockery, Washington has announced an improvisation in the form of a settlement plan with the condition of constituting in Venezuela a kind of transitional government," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"Now that due to the pandemic the world adopted a moratorium on political events, Washington suggests drafting a national elections schedule in Venezuela. We believe one needs to think about Venezuelan people and how to help them overcome the humanitarian disaster."

On Tuesday, the United States proposed to withdraw its unilateral economic sanctions against Venezuela if this country agreed to establish a transitional government.

This "Council of State" would include representatives of both President Nicolas Maduro and opposition senator Juan Guaido.

The U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams indicated that this government would be in charge of organizing presidential elections within the next year.

In this electoral process, as the U.S. State Secretary Mike Pompeo told reporters, Guaido could participate as a presidential candidate because "we continue to support him."  The United States, however, asked President Maduro to "step aside."​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

In light of this proposal, Zakharova denounced that Western political groups seek to achieve their objectives in Venezuela by promoting a coup d'état against President Maduro.​​​​​​​

"Some countries are guided by political considerations, striving to take advantage of the grave epidemiological situation in the world and Venezuela. The idea of a coup to overthrow the country’s legitimate president is on the minds of some Western political forces," she explained.

"We reject the blockade of aid from the International Monetary Fund to Caracas. We condemn the issuance of the search and capture order against the head of a sovereign state based on his false accusation of drug trafficking," the Russian official said.​​​​​​​

On Thursday, the Venezuelan political opposition distanced itself from the U.S. "Transition Plan" and moved further away from Guaido.

"Talking about transition and breakup at the same time is a contradiction," lawmaker Stalin Gonzalez, who was Guaido's right-hand man until very recently, said.

"I do not see a way out of this crisis through rupture... Whether we like it or not, Chavismo is a political force. You have to find a space to do politics,” he added.

This Venezuelan lawmaker even confessed that the opposition's project to destabilize the Bolivarian government has completely failed.

"We tried to break Maduro's power but Juan [Guaido] has not been able to exercise power ... we lost the battle," said Gonzalez, a young politician who now advocates a "pragmatic reconciliation" between the opposition and the Bolivarian government.