Venezuelan Interim President Juan Guaidó and U.S. Ambassador James Story

“Venezuela will remain a priority for the United States and the world. Our political goals remain the same: free and fair elections in which the Venezuela people can determine their own destiny,” said U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela Jimmy Story at the AS/COA event, Venezuelan Interim President Juan Guaidó and Civil Society Leaders on 2021 Goals. “The question is not if the democratic forces wish to consider negotiations—the question is if [Nicolás] Maduro and those around him can put the interests of Venezuela above their own,” said the ambassador.

Interim President Juan Guaidó said that fair elections were in fact the only goal for the country in 2021. Regarding potential talks with Maduro, Guaidó cautioned that the regime would try to turn negotiations into a goal in and of themselves. “They’re not,” said the interim leader from Caracas. “Negotiations are a mechanism to arrive at and achieve a solution for Venezuela.” Guaidó also emphasized the food crisis at the moment—roughly one in three Venezuelans is food insecure—and criticized the Maduro regime for not allowing the UN World Food Program into the country.

Watch the complete video of the program in Spanish.