By Diego Oré
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Representatives of the Venezuelan government and the opposition began a round of talks on Friday in Mexico City with the aim of overcoming Venezuela’s acute political and economic crisis.
Unlike previous negotiation efforts, the talks will include more than a dozen countries, among them the Netherlands, Russia, Bolivia, Turkey, and Norway, which will act as the facilitator.
“We are sure that under the auspices of peace we will build an agreement for Venezuelan women and men, for peaceful coexistence (…) to look, as we should all look, to the future,” Jorge Rodríguez, president of the Venezuelan parliament, said before the talks, which will last until Sunday.
For the talks to advance to a potential agreement, President Nicolas Maduro demands that the sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe on officials and institutions be lifted. Venezuela says these sanctions are responsible for the economic crisis in the OPEC member.
For its part, the opposition coalition calls for humanitarian aid, including vaccines against COVID-19, to be allowed to enter Venezuela; the release of dozens of supporters whom it considers “political prisoners;” and guarantees it will be allowed to participate in regional elections in November.
The return to the negotiating table represents a turnaround for the opposition, which in the past accused Maduro of using dialogue to buy time and defuse international pressure. The Venezuelan government abandoned the 2019 dialogue, which took place in Barbados and Norway, after the United States tightened sanctions.
U.S. President Joe Biden has not relaxed sanctions against the financial and oil sectors of Venezuela since taking office in January and has maintained support for opposition leader Juan Guaido, who declared himself interim president in January 2019 after claiming there was fraud in Maduro’s 2018 re-election.
“We are willing to review sanctions policies on the basis of significant progress in the negotiation. But that is what we need to see: significant progress,” U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Thursday.
(Reporting by Diego Ore in Mexico City, writing by Laura Gottesdiener; editing by Grant McCool)
