This Wednesday, the Bolivarian Government presented the agreement drafted with the opposition delegation in the Dialogue Table held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Earlier, the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, signed the agreement that emerged in the meetings between the Government and the Venezuelan opposition, despite the opposition’s refusal to sign the document.
“I will sign, personally, the agreement that was given in the Dominican Republic to endorse this agreement with my signature and I will fulfill it in all its parts,” he said at a press conference held at the Generalísimo Francisco de Miranda sports complex park, in Miranda state.
Here is the full text of the agreement signed in the Dialogue for Peace:
Agreement of Democratic Coexistence for Venezuela
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
February 7, 2018
Together, Government and Opposition agree on the need to agree on a political, economic, and social framework that will generate effective progress in the current situation in Venezuela.
The objectives of the present agreements are the affirmation of national sovereignty, democratic stability, governability, full respect for human rights, guarantees in electoral processes, cooperation in the face of existing socio-economic situations, affirming the rule of law constitutional, the full development of political rights and commitment to democratic respect, the absolute rejection of violence as a political instrument and a policy of reconciliation, as a foundation for national democratic coexistence.
The development of the points of this Agreement will be subject to the reciprocal fulfillment of all the acquired commitments.
1.- Sovereignty and unilateral sanctions against Venezuela
Government and Opposition agree to work together to review and eliminate unilateral sanctions against the country, which block financial capabilities to meet the basic needs of the Venezuelan people. Therefore, a bilateral commission is created for the appropriate negotiations in the international community. The commission will start operating within 48 hours.
The Government and the Opposition ratify the legitimate rights of Venezuela over the territory of Guayana Esequibo, and highlight its unrestricted attachment to the 1966 Geneva Agreement as the only valid legal instrument to resolve this territorial dispute and to amicably reach the practical and satisfactory arrangement for both Parties
The Parties reject as a consequence the inexplicable recommendation of the UN Secretary General that seeks to divert the application of the successive political means ordered by the Geneva Agreement, and leave the resolution of this controversy to a dangerous inertia, squandering the legal and peaceful virtue that offers this current international treaty, in harmony with the postulates of peace to which the United Nations owes.
The Parties ratify their firm support for the actions undertaken by the Republic in defense of their sovereign rights over the Essequibo.
2.- Elections
The elections will be held on the twenty-second (22) day of the month of April of the year two thousand and eighteen (2018).
Guarantees of the electoral process:
The two rectors appointed on December 13, 2016 by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice are urged to be selected. These will be the result of the consensus of the signatories of this agreement.
Government and Opposition agree to propose to the Secretary General of the United Nations a delegation of accompaniment and electoral observation, as well as a representation of the accompanying countries signatories of this agreement.
It will ensure and favor equity in access to public and private media, and national and international social networks in the development of the electoral campaign.
At the date of the call for elections, the national voting centers will be reinstated to their original places and the largest possible public dissemination will be carried out for the knowledge of the voters.
All technical audits will be carried out with the established standards, not inferior to those used in the elections of October 7, 2012 and of the six (06) of December of two thousand and fifteen (2015). In particular, the aforementioned audits will affect all the components of the system, with established protocols and the presence of international observation.
The appropriate draw of board members will be carried out with the adequate notification to them, and due supervision of the Electoral Power.
The electoral registry should remain open for updates both for the interior and for the exterior of the country from February 8 to February 15.
The parties undertake to strengthen the mechanisms of political participation
3.- Strengthening of the Constitutional State of Law
Government and Opposition agree to create a political commission between the National Assembly and the National Constituent Assembly for their institutional coexistence.
4.- The Economic and Social Situation
Without prejudice to the competences and responsibilities of the National Government regarding public policies in the economic and social area, it is agreed:
To immediately establish a commission for the study, analysis and formulation of constructive proposals to address the economic situation in Venezuela.
This Commission will be open to the work and proposals of the different social sectors and may request the collaboration of experts.
As a priority, the commission will propose measures to promote the access of goods and services to the population, through the various existing channels, such as suppression of financial blockages, obtaining financing lines before the various international organizations and entities or countries willing to cooperate , and in general, any other way that may contribute to this end.
The present commission will be constituted in the first seven (7) consecutive days to the signature of the present agreement.
5.- Commission for Truth
The Truth Commission must carry out its work in the shortest possible time and present a report within a period of 2 months. Three (03) representatives of the Opposition and a long-standing NGO in the promotion and defense of human rights, proposed by the Opposition, will be incorporated. The Commission will continue to promote measures in the direction of the favorable initiatives adopted on the twenty-third (23) of December of the year two thousand and seventeen (2017).
The purpose of this Commission is reconciliation, reparation to the victims, Peace, justice, and for the democratic coexistence in Venezuela.
6.- Commission for Follow-up and Verification of the Agreement
The Commission is set up to promote, monitor and comply with the agreements between the Government and the Opposition.
It will be composed of (representatives of the Government, representatives of the Opposition), the Government of the Dominican Republic, the Foreign Ministers of the accompanying countries that accompany the signing of this agreement and former President Rodríguez Zapatero. It will meet once a month at the place where it is determined.
It will be chaired and convened by the government of the Dominican Republic.
The Government and the Opposition may promote extraordinary convocations through the President of the Dominican Republic.
The Monitoring Commission will guarantee compliance with the agreements, resolve interpretative doubts and conflicts that may arise. Its method of decision will be consensus.
Likewise, the Commission may formally address governments, organizations and international entities, to request collaboration in the development of this Agreement, all this, with respect to the sovereignty of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
All the texts, agreements and reports of the Commission will be deposited in the government of the Dominican Republic that will act as authenticator of its authenticity. The Commission will appoint a coordinator and a Technical Secretariat who will be provided with the necessary support to carry out their tasks.
The Commission will work indefinitely and in any case will review the Agreement and the need for its maintenance, modification and termination after the presidential elections of two thousand and eighteen (2018).
Done and signed in the city of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on the sixth (06) day of the month of February of two thousand and eighteen (2018).
