委内瑞拉和美国正在为南美国家的选举铺平道路，该选举将通过宣布职位空缺来触发，该职位自美国军队在1月逮捕尼古拉斯·马杜罗以来在技术上一直空缺。
Venezuela and the US are setting up a path toward elections in the South American country that would be triggered by declaring a vacancy in the office, which technically has been empty since American forces captured Nicolás Maduro in January.
华盛顿的路线图要求在12月中旬前成立新的最高法院，即TSJ，随后不久成立改组后的新国家选举委员会，即CNE。一旦这两个机构就位，将开始为期六个月的总统选举期。
Washington’s roadmap calls for a new Supreme Court, or TSJ, to be installed by mid-December, followed shortly afterward by a reformed and newly constituted National Electoral Council, or CNE. Once both bodies are in place, a six-month period for holding a presidential vote would begin.
国务院一位高级官员周一提出的计划，为华盛顿推动委内瑞拉举行新选举提供了迄今最明确的时间表，同时明确表示美国不希望在继承的机构下举行选举。
The plan laid out Monday by a senior State Department official offers the clearest timetable yet for Washington’s effort to move Venezuela toward a new election, while making clear that the US doesn’t want an election held under inherited institutions.
虽然该计划的具体内容可能会让委内瑞拉的民主倡导者感到鼓舞，但它并未提供新选举的确切时间。
While the specifics of the plan are likely to be encouraging to advocates for democracy in Venezuela, they fall short of providing the exact timing of new elections.
国务院官员周一对记者表示，根据该计划，CNE也将被彻底重塑。它不再决定哪些政党或哪些候选人可以出现在选票上，而将成为一个主要侧重于管理选举、运营投票站、计票和公布结果的技术性机构。其新成员将由专家委员会通过类似于TSJ的程序选出，不过不需要国民议会批准，该官员表示。
The CNE would also be fundamentally reshaped under the plan, the State Department official told reporters Monday. Rather than deciding which parties can or which candidates can appear on the ballot, it would become a largely technical body focused on administering elections, operating polling places, counting votes and reporting results. Its new members would be selected by a committee of experts through a process similar to the one being used for the TSJ, though they wouldn’t require National Assembly approval, the official said.
委内瑞拉当前当局在开放政治空间方面愿意走多远，仍存在疑问。周一早些时候，代理总统德尔西·罗德里格斯敦促反对派领导人玛丽亚·科里娜·马查多，在她海外流亡一年多后返回加拉卡斯，为该国的政治进程和经济复苏做出积极贡献。
Questions remain about how far Venezuela’s current authorities are willing to go in opening political space. Earlier Monday, acting President Delcy Rodríguez urged opposition leader María Corina Machado to make a positive contribution to the country’s political process and economic recovery now that she’s returned to Caracas after more than a year abroad.
罗德里格斯告诉记者，她希望马查多能表现出“悔恨、忏悔和改弦更张”。她还将这位反对派领袖的回归——此举吸引了大批支持者聚集——斥为一场不必要的“表演”，本可避免。
Rodríguez told reporters she hoped Machado would show “regret, remorse and a change of course.”She also dismissed the opposition leader’s return, which drew crowds of supporters, as an unnecessary “show” that could have been avoided.
国务卿马尔科·鲁比奥通过视频连线对记者表示，委内瑞拉当局迄今已遵守华盛顿要求其采取的政治和经济步骤，并同意推进新的最高司法法庭。
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking to reporters via video link, said Venezuelan authorities had so far complied with the political and economic steps Washington had asked them to take and had agreed to move ahead with the new TSJ.
“他们同意新的最高司法法庭。他们同意继续推进，”鲁比奥说。他补充说，双方正在按照商定的时间表工作，并且“迄今为止，他们已遵守每一个时间表”。被问及马查多时，鲁比奥表示，美国在反对派领袖返回前几周就已向委内瑞拉过渡当局寻求保证，确保她能够不受干扰地返回该国。这些保证迄今仍然有效，他说。
“They’ve agreed to the new TSJ. They’ve agreed to this moving forward,” Rubio said. He added that the two sides were working under agreed timelines and that “so far they’ve met every one of the timelines.”Asked about Machado, Rubio said the US had sought assurances from Venezuela’s interim authorities weeks before the opposition leader’s return that she would be allowed back into the country without interference. Those assurances have so far held, he said.