THE Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) has agreed to build “an alternative” to socialist President Nicolas Maduro in 2024, but ruled out an alliance with those that have undermined the country’s sovereignty. 

Party leader Oscar Figueroa rejected an appeal from opposition leader Antonio Ecarri who suggested that communists could join right-wing forces in selecting a joint candidate for the presidential election. 

Governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) vice-president Diosdado Cabello referred to the statement on his weekly TV programme Going at it with the Club to attack the PCV, whose relations with the ruling PSUV have deteriorated in recent months. 

“We have no problem meeting with Antonio Ecarri, but we will not make alliances with sectors that called for military invasions against Venezuela,” Mr Figueroa told journalist Mario Villegas in a radio interview.

The communist leader shot back at Mr Cabello’s criticism of the party, claiming that it is in fact Mr Maduro that is holding dialogue with the enemies of the Venezuelan people to create “a new pact of elites.

“We are not going to break with a neoliberal government to ally ourselves with someone who called for intervention in the country,” Mr Figueroa said. 

He said that the communist electoral strategy was not “about building an anti-Maduro alliance” but “about the regrouping of the labour, peasant, community and popular movement to present a genuinely revolutionary alternative to the Maduro government.”

The PCV was accused by President Nicolas Maduro of trying to divide the revolutionary movement after it stood candidates against the PSUV in last year’s elections.

He accused them of being “agents of imperialism” while the PCV has accused Mr Maduro of waging “anti-communist attacks” on the party, blocking its candidates from standing and other oppressive measures.

A number of communist cadres have been killed in recent months with the party slamming government inaction in bringing the perpetrators to justice.