Venezuela recovers billions in blocked resources after signing an agreement with the opposition

– The Government of Venezuela and a sector of the opposition, the Unitary Platform coalition, reached a second partial agreement here on Saturday to release blocked resources after a deadlock of more than a year, said the head of the government delegation.

The two sides, aiming to ease economic woes and political stalemate in the oil-rich country, resumed talks after a suspension in October 2021 and signed a humanitarian agreement to facilitate the well-being of the Venezuelan people.

“Through this agreement we are recovering more than 3 billion dollars that will go directly to financing education, health, electricity, to care for the victims of the tragedies caused by the torrential rains that Venezuela has suffered,” Jorge Rodríguez, head of the government delegation, told local journalists.

The recovered resources will be invested in 2,300 schools throughout the country, destined to promote the country’s health industry, as well as to improve the national electrical network, Rodríguez said.

The resources will be placed in a fund created by the United Nations (UN) and administered by Venezuela and its mechanisms, said Rodríguez, who is also president of the National Assembly, noting that the international financial system has frozen more than 20 billion dollars of Venezuelan resources.

In a statement on Saturday, UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pledged to support the two sides in implementing the deal, calling it “an important milestone that has the potential to generate broader benefits for the people of Venezuela”. ■

(Xinhua)