Latin American and Caribbean bloc welcomes partial lifting of U.S. sanctions against Venezuela

CARACAS, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People's Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) on Friday welcomed the progress made in national conciliation talks in Venezuela and the temporary suspension of U.S. sanctions against the South American nation.

In a statement, the Caracas-based Latin American and Caribbean integration bloc said, "the unilateral coercive measures ... should be withdrawn in their entirety and without condition immediately."

"Our Venezuelan brothers are choosing the path of dialogue without foreign interference, ratifying that the only possible path is peace," it said.

The block expressed its willingness to accompany "any initiative aimed at achieving peace" in the context of respect for human rights and peoples' self-determination.

On Oct. 17, the Venezuelan government and some factions of the opposition signed an agreement to promote political coexistence and electoral guarantees in the lead-up to next year's presidential elections.

Subsequently, the U.S. government officially announced it would suspend several unilateral sanctions against Venezuela, including sanctions impacting companies in oil, gas and gold mining industries.

The ALBA-TCP gathers Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Nicaragua, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Venezuela.