United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held a press conference today during which he unveiled a proposal to see elections in Venezuela this year, called the “Democratic Transition Framework for Venezuela”. Under the proposal, the ruling PSUV party and the opposition would agree to hand over all decision-making in the country to a transitional governing council that would oversee the elections.
The framework is made up of 13 points, which include a demand to release all political prisoners in the country as well as the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Arguably the most consequential of the framework’s proposals are the creation of a “Council of State” which would replace the executive branch. This Council would be made up of five members to be chosen by both the PSUV and the opposition, with its Secretary General serving as interim president until presidential elections are held.
The proposal from Washington comes on the heels of a similar initiative proposed by Guaido earlier this week.
The Maduro government was quick to react to the framework, rejecting it out of hand and calling it misguided and “miserable”. Below, Caracas’ response:
The full framework can be found here.
Maduro: 8 New Cases of COVID-19
Maduro announced today that there were eight new cases of COVID-19 in the country detected over the past 24 hours, bringing the total since the outbreak began in the country to 143.
Earlier in the day, authorities arrested 18 people who attended a party in Caracas earlier this week in defiance of the quarantine imposed to combat the spread of the virus.
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