Venezuelan Authorities Resume Talks With Opposition

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) - Venezuelan National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez, who led the government delegation at the talks with the opposition, held the first meeting since October 2021 with opposition delegation head Gerardo Blyde.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced the resumption and expansion of negotiations with the opposition in March 2022, but no public information about this process has appeared.

"At a working meeting [to define] plans for the future. Saving the spirit of Mexico City," Rodriguez wrote on Twitter under a photo from a meeting.

Talks between the Venezuelan authorities and the right-wing opposition in Mexico City, aimed at leading the country out of the crisis and resolving social tensions, were interrupted in October 2021 after several rounds due to the extradition to the United States of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab, who was formally a member of the negotiating delegation from the Maduro government.

The meeting of representatives of political forces took place almost immediately after the decision of the United States to approve the resumption of operations in the South American country for US and European oil companies. The step, the US State Department said, was made to meet the intention of the Venezuelan government to return to the talks.

Washington calls the results of talks between the political forces of Venezuela the basis for further decisions to weaken or tighten the sanctions policy against Caracas.