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Venezuela: Government, Opposition Hold Talks amid Tensions

Venezuela: Government, Opposition Hold Talks amid Tensions
folder_openLatin America access_time7 years ago
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Local Editor

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro started talks with a group of opposition leaders in an effort to end the country's political crisis and economic woes.

Venezuela: Government, Opposition Hold Talks amid Tensions

Maduro arrived at a museum in the capital Caracas, where he officially kicked off the negotiations with leaders of five opposition groups on Sunday night.

The negotiations opened with international mediators from the Vatican, Spain, Panama and the Dominican Republic in attendance.

Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, a Vatican envoy to the talks, described the start of the negotiations as something "very positive."

The Vatican official asked both sides to agree "to some concrete gestures to give credibility to this process," adding, "The country is waiting for authentic signals to comprehend that dialogue is a reality."

The Venezuelan head of state pledged an "absolute commitment" to dialogue with opposition groups, but some parties boycotted the talks.

"We must be optimistic when we're talking about peace," said Maduro, praising the role of the international mediators in the diplomatic process.

Fifteen parties belonging to the Democratic Unity coalition, which has been seeking to force Maduro from office, refused to attend the talks.

They demand the release of political prisoners as a condition for negotiations and call on the government to reverse its decision to cancel a recall referendum against the president.

"For an eventual dialogue to take place it has to be very clear from the outset that the aim is agreeing on the terms of a democratic transition in the remainder of 2016," the parties said in a statement.

Maduro, however, said the quashing of the referendum was a decision of independent judicial and electoral authorities.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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