UN could manage an aid fund for more than 3 billion dollars for Venezuela

Venezuelan politicians are discussing proposals for a fund that could free up more than $3 billion and provide humanitarian aid to Venezuela through the United Nationsin a process that also involves officials from the U.S. Departments of State and Treasury. USAnine people familiar with the talks said.

The proposals, seen as an incentive to promote a political dialogue that leads to elections in Venezuela, come as more Venezuelans try to reach US territory, generating political disputes over migration. The arrival of migrants at the border between United States and Mexico is sparking discussions about unfreezing Venezuelan funds held in foreign banks that would finance food and medicine imports, said the sources who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

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According to the National Survey of Living Conditions (ENCOVI), carried out by Venezuelan universities, 94% of Venezuelans lived in poverty last year and more than half experienced moderate or severe food insecurity.

Some analysts and activists have said that US and Western sanctions are exacerbating the country’s deep economic crisis.

In 2019, the United States under the administration of Donald Trump and other countries imposed sanctions on Venezuela with the aim of depriving the government of the president Nicholas Maduro of oil revenues and thus assets were frozen, including billions of dollars of the country deposited in foreign entities.

Washington and some European allies see the move to release the funds as essential to establishing a “social agreement” between the Venezuelan government and the opposition, the sources said.

The US State and Treasury departments and the Venezuelan Ministry of Information did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

the spokesman for the UNStephane Dujarric, did not comment on whether the organization has agreed to run an aid fund, but said he continues to urge Venezuela and the opposition to hold a “inclusive and meaningful dialogue leading to negotiated solutions, with human rights as a central component”.

”Resource mobilization remains a key challenge,” said. He added that the existing plans for 2022-2023 are funded at 16.5% and that the UN is calling on its members to lend support.

US National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson told Reuters that any discussion about providing humanitarian aid to Venezuelans is being led by Venezuelans. “We are ready, in accordance with United States law, to calibrate our sanctions policy based on a process led by Venezuela.”

The president’s administration Joe Biden he has said that any relief from sanctions on Venezuela would only come when Maduro takes steps to restore democracy.

Migrants, mostly Venezuelans, walk down a street while waiting for their free transit document, which is processed in the town of San Pedro Tapanatepec, state of Oaxaca, Mexico, on October 19, 2022. (Photo by FRANCISCO RAMOS / AFP ) (FRANCISCO RAMOS/)

on the hunt for money

Ripe first proposed a fund administered by the UN in 2020. In a video addressed to the General Assembly, Maduro criticized Venezuela’s lack of access to foreign accounts and urged the adoption of a “international legally binding instrument for development” to overcome poverty and inequality.

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The call did not generate action at that time in the midst of the strategy of “maximum pressure” of Trump to remove him from power.

Since 2017, Washington has provided $1.94 billion in humanitarian aid to Venezuela and to nations hosting Venezuelans, but the money has done little to slow a flow that has seen more than 6 million Venezuelans leave the country.

The new fund could generate rejection among those who support continued pressure on Ripe in the United States Congress. The proposal also has some Venezuelan opposition parties concerned about the potential impact of injecting funds into the country’s economy, which faces serious liquidity problems, for which Maduro could gain credit before the presidential elections.

The Department of Homeland Security closed its border and now only allows entry from Venezuela or a third country to applicants with relatives who already live under legal status in the United States.

Officials in Washington have argued that the aid fund could prevent Venezuelans from fleeing their country by improving their living conditions through better access to food, medicine and health care, and by financing infrastructure projects to repair Venezuela’s power grid. , according to the sources.

The United Nations completed a first draft of the proposal for managing the fund in mid-October, the people said. Since then, US officials and opposition leaders have been knocking on the doors of some multilateral organizations and think tanks to study projects.

A possible date for its activation has not yet been defined and many details remain unfinished, but the fund could be announced once envoys from Maduro and the opposition sit down in Mexico to discuss presidential elections, two of the sources said.

Opposition envoys discussed the issue with US officials during their trip to Washington last week, according to four of the sources. The United States has also approached the Maduro government on the issue, according to two separate sources.

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The possibility of Venezuelan money flowing again for imports and investments has sparked the interest of Venezuelan creditors and debt holders, who are behind claims for expropriation of assets and unpaid debts.

Multilateral organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), which have helped manage other funds or aid initiatives, are on Venezuela’s list of creditors after billions of dollars in unpaid loans and lines of credit.

For the United Nationsthis could become one of his largest funds, although the total amount that could be legally released is not yet clear.

Source: Elcomercio