Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has warned that his deal with the opposition political party over upcoming elections might come to an end, as he believes it is a conspiracy against him.
"Today the Barbados agreements are mortally wounded, they're in intensive care, they were stabbed, kicked," Maduro said in a televised state broadcast on Thursday, Reuters reported.
"Hopefully we can save the Barbados agreements and, through dialogue, reach real overarching agreements through national consensus."
The Maduro-led administration reached an agreement with the opposition, during a meeting held in Barbados, to hold elections later this year.
Due to this deal, the United States decided to ease economically debilitating oil sanctions on the crude-exporting country. This decision was made so that Venezuela's current administration will lift all bans made on the opponents and release political prisoners alongside "unjustly detained" Americans.
However, Venezuela has not lifted the ban on Maria Corina Machado, the opposition's presidential candidate yet.
Maduro said there have been "conspiracies" against him and other high-ranking officials in his administration, noting that more than 30 civilians and military personnel were detained.
The U.S. officials noted that they were "concerned" regarding the arrests of members of the political opposition in Venezuela. If the deal ends, then Venezuela can once again face sanctions by the United States government.
Last month, Venezuela authorities arrested opposition member Roberto Abdul, while warrants were out for several people involved in the campaign of presidential nominee Machado.
The arrest warrants were out for former National Assembly leader Juan Guaidó and three campaign staffers named Henry Alviarez, Claudia Macero and Pedro Urruchurtu. The staffers had worked with presidential nominee Machado during the campaign.
Machado, who held a press conference on the same day of members being arrested, said the government "believes that with this they will create fear, imbalance, demoralization or demobilization, and it's just the opposite."
In October, the Venezuelan government slammed the primary election organized by the opposition, calling it a "scam." National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said the primary election was fraudulent because voters were not aware of the electoral registry and location of voting centers.
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