The United States, the European Union, Canada and the United Kingdom celebrated the agreement reached in Barbados with Venezuela by which the Latin American country undertakes to facilitate “fair and competitive elections“.

“We welcome the Venezuelan-led political agreement reached today in Barbados. This agreement represents a necessary step in the pursuit of an inclusive dialogue process and the restoration of democracy in Venezuela,” indicates a joint statement released this Tuesday.

The text is signed by the American Secretary of State Anthony Blinken; the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Joseph Borrell; the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, Melanie Joly; and the British Foreign Secretary, James cleverly.

“We support a peacefully negotiated outcome that leads to fair and competitive elections and a return to economic stability and security,” says the text published following negotiations with Venezuela in Barbados on October 17.

The United States, the European Union, Canada and the United Kingdom insisted that they continue to call for “unconditional release of all persons unjustly detained, independence of the electoral process and judicial institutions, freedom of expression and respect for human and political rights“.

“We will work with our international partners and others to meet the urgent needs of all Venezuelans inside and outside their country and to alleviate the humanitarian crisis,” they said.

The Venezuelan regime indicated that during this year it had held negotiations with representatives of the American administration in order to economic sanctions are lifted imposed on the South American country in recent years, most of them dictated by Washington.

The result of this process, indicates the letter from the Executive of Nicolas Maduro, the regime and the opposition Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) signed this Tuesday in Barbados. two agreements on guarantees for the 2024 presidential elections, which include international observation.

“With these agreements, Venezuela takes a new step on the path to ending the unilateral criminal coercive measures adopted against our people and restoring the welfare state achieved by the Bolivarian Revolution,” the note reads.

In the agreement on electoral guarantees, the parties commit to continuing the process of dialogue and negotiation on other measures, “understanding the need to lift sanctions against the Venezuelan State.”

According to government data, countries including the United States, Canada, Panama and European Union (EU) countries have imposed more than 900 sanctions on Venezuela since 2015, most of them personally against officials accused of harm democracy.

(With information from EFE)