EU will review sanctions against Venezuela in parallel to free elections

The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, has indicated this Thursday that the bloc will review the individual sanctions against the leaders of the Nicolás Maduro regime, “in step” with the changes promoted by Caracas to hold free elections.

“As progress is made towards democratic normalization and circumstances are modified to allow inclusive, free and fair elections, the EU is willing to gradually review the sanctions,” said the head of community diplomacy at a press conference from Bogotá where has met with the Colombian Foreign Minister, Álvaro Leyva.

Borrell explained that this repositioning of the EU will be done “in step” with the changes that Venezuela introduces and that allow the holding of democratic elections. “This is quite different from removing (sanctions)”, he has stressed.

• You may be interested in:A soldier dies and another is injured after an armed attack in Ecuador

The head of Foreign Affairs of the EU has been insisting on his intention to adapt his position towards Venezuela and considers it essential that there be progress in the framework of the negotiations in Mexico between the Government and the opposition, currently blocked. “In any negotiation process, one party does and the other responds,” Borrell said at the beginning of his trip to Bogotá, where he participated in the conference on Venezuela organized by Colombian President Gustavo Petro.

The EU considers that the political situation in Venezuela is “totally different” from a few months ago, with important changes in recent times both in the national sphere, with the dismissal of the president ‘in charge’ Juan Guaidó, and in the regional sphere with the restoration of relations with Colombia and Brazil, and that is why it aspires to relocate to Caracas, for which sanctions are a key element.