Negotiators on both sides of Venezuela’s political divide will return to Mexico this week to kick off a second round of talks aimed at easing the once prosperous country’s long-running crisis which has forced millions to flee.
By US News – Diego Oré
Sep 2, 2021
Representatives of embattled socialist President Nicolas Maduro and the opposition to his government will meet on Friday afternoon, after a first round of negotiations was held in the Mexican capital last month.
While no agreements from the talks have been publicly disclosed so far, two sources with knowledge of the sessions cited a pair of recent developments as products of the dialogue: the freeing of opposition leader Freddy Guevara and the announced participation of the opposition in regional elections scheduled for November.
The opposition boycotted a 2018 presidential vote that saw Maduro win a lopsided reelection, as well as a parliamentary election last year, both of which Maduro’s opponents viewed as rigged.
Jorge Rodríguez, president of Venezuela’s Congress and head of Maduro’s negotiating team, announced the resumption of talks in remarks on Tuesday.
Unlike failed talks in years past, the México – hosted negotiations now have the formal backing of the Netherlands, Russia, Bolivia and Turkey, as well as Norway which also participated in the earlier August round.
Maduro’s government has demanded that financial sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe on Venezuela be lifted, including those applied to state oil company PDVSA, blamed for intensifying the country’s historic economic meltdown.
“Venezuela will present in México … a firm request with all the requirements for the recovery of the country’s economy and the return of the gold held hostage in the Bank of England, and that all sanctions against PDVSA be lifted,” Maduro said earlier this week.
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Read More: US News – Take two: Venezuelan government, opposition return to México for talks
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