Venezuela proposes dialogue process in Colombian crisis

He Chancellor of Venezuela, Yván Gil, proposed this Friday advance a dialogue process in Caracas among Colombian actors to promote conversations. The announcement was made after the filing of charges by the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Colombia against the campaign of President Gustavo Petro.

“It is proposed to carry out a broad process of political discussion between Colombian actors, with the direct support of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” said the chancellor during a press conference.

This occurs, according to Gil, “as continuity to the efforts made in the peace dialogue processes with different armed groups and the government of Colombia that allow progress towards the stability of the brother country.”

The diplomat also proposed inviting the Honduran president, Xiomara Castro, in her role as president pro tempore of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), as well as the countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (Alba), as mediators, to build “paths towards respect for popular sovereignty” in Colombia.

The chancellor’s announcement comes days after Diosdado Cabello, Minister of the Interior and Justice, He assured that Venezuela will always be on Petro’s side.

«We will be in favor of Petro, always, without double positions. Between Petro and (Iván) Duque I have nothing to choose, it is clear that I am going to support Petro,” Cabello indicated in the middle of this week.

The CNE’s decision on Petro’s campaign

The CNE of Colombia announced on Tuesday that decided to open an investigation and file charges against Petro and members of his team for allegedly violating the spending limits established in his presidential campaign and resorting to prohibited sources that did not declare.

Petro responded with strong criticism of the electoral body by ensuring that it is “infiltrated by the same politicians who have governed the country for decades.”

The Colombian leader maintained the day before that the CNE’s decision is “the first step of a coup d’état” against him and his government announced today that it appealed to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IDH-Court) against that determination. when considering that violates the popular vote that elected Petro president in 2022.

Although the CNE’s decision opened a legal debate about whether the electoral body had the powers to file charges, it is worth remembering, as explained The Time in its analysis, that the Constitutional Court ruled that it does have powers to investigate the Petro campaign. Furthermore, as the Council of State indicated on August 6, the CNE can investigate both the campaign and the candidate.