Venezuela govt, mistrustful rivals agree crisis talks

CARACAS —Venezuela’s government and opposition leaders said they would meet Sunday for Vatican-backed talks in a bid to settle the country’s deepening political crisis. It will be the first open dialogue between the sides in nearly a year of opposition efforts to drive President Nicolas Maduro from power. His opponents blame him for an economic crisis that has caused food shortages and riots. The start of the talks has been fraught with disagreement among the opposition coalition, which voiced suspicion of Maduro even as it confirmed it would attend. The Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) agreed to join in talks with feelings of “skepticism and distrust,” its leader Jesus Torrealba said late Saturday in a statement. Maduro’s Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez also said the talks would go ahead Sunday, in terms reflecting the volatile tone of the crisis. “A process of dialogue is being established with opposition groups,” she said in a speech during the Ibero-American Summit in Cartagena, Colombia on Saturday. It aims “to contain actions that aim to overthrow the Venezuelan government by unconstitutional and undemocratic means,” she said. Sunday’s meeting would be the first official dialogue between the sides since the opposition took control of the legislature in January. Since then, Maduro has persistently vowed to resist their efforts to unseat him. His proposal for talks appeared to sow divisions in the opposition. He announced the plan for a “national dialogue” on Monday after an audience with Pope Francis. Some senior MUD leaders rejected the move as a ploy. The MUD had pushed to hold a referendum on removing Maduro from power. When the authorities blocked that move, it vowed to hold a political trial against him. Maduro responded by threatening to jail his political enemies. Agreeing to join the talks, Torrealba reiterated the MUD’s demands that the government respect the constitutional right to a referendum, and that it free imprisoned MUD activists. “This meeting could yield important agreements that could de-escalate the conflict,” he said. But leaders of some of the parties in the MUD warned that the “conditions are not in place for dialogue.” “The government insists on blocking all the peaceful, constitutional and democratic means” for settling the crisis, they said in an open letter to Torrealba. Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, but is suffering a deep economic crisis prompted by falling crude prices. Analysts have warned of a risk of major unrest in this South American country of 30 million people. Clashes at anti-government rallies in 2014 left 43 people dead. Maduro last week tried to mollify struggling workers by offering a 40 percent increase in the minimum wage, equivalent to about $140 a month. However, economic analysts said the pay raise would do little good in a country where the International Monetary Fund estimates inflation this year will hit 475 percent. The opposition-majority legislature last week declared that Maduro’s government had committed a coup d’etat by blocking the referendum. The opposition staged protests on Wednesday that drew hundreds of thousands, and vowed another demonstration next Thursday at the presidential palace. Vice-president Aristobulo Isturiz warned that government supporters would “be there waiting.” The opposition has appealed to the international community for support. Maduro had been expected to attend the Ibero-American summit, where Latin American nations discussed the Venezuela crisis. Rodriguez said the president canceled his appearance there because of Sunday’s peace talks. It was not immediately clear where those talks would take place. Opposition leaders have rejected Maduro’s proposed location of Isla Margarita, a Venezuelan island in the Caribbean Sea, insisting talks be held in Caracas. — AFP