Venezuela rivals to hold long-term crisis talks

Caracas / AFP

Venezuela’s embattled government and opposition leaders agreed on Monday to hold extended talks aimed at defusing the nation’s increasingly tense political crisis.
Vatican representative Claudio Maria Celli said in statement that the two sides have agreed to a “national dialogue plenary meeting” beginning next month.
The two sides will meet on November 11, officials announced Monday, after an hours-long session on the outskirts of Caracas to negotiate the framework for the dialogue.
That meeting is to be followed by long-term talks that aim to resolve months of social upheaval and bitter political division.
Officials from the Vatican, which mediated the breakthrough, said the topics outlined in the agenda include: respect for rule of law and government sovereignty; human rights and reconciliation; economic and social affairs; and a timetable for holding elections.
Participants in Sunday’s talks included the UNASUR regional group, led by its secretary general, former Colombian president Ernesto Samper.
A recent poll found that more than 75 percent of Venezuelans disapprove of their deeply unpopular president, the handpicked successor to late socialist leader Hugo Chavez.
Opponents of President Nicolas Maduro blame him for an economic crisis that has caused food shortages and riots in the oil-rich country and want to hold a
referendum on removing him from office.
Maduro’s opponents have vowed to use their majority in the legislature to declare that the leftist leader has “abandoned his post” and have been threatening to hold a political trial against him. Maduro has responded by threatening to throw his political enemies in jail, accusing the opposition of trying to overthrow the government through “unconstitutional and undemocratic means.” Meanwhile, after months of political infighting and social chaos, Venezuela’s crisis has only deepened, and analysts have warned of the risk of continued unrest in this South American country of 30 million people.

Deep economic crisis
Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, but is suffering a deep economic crisis sparked by falling crude prices.
The International Monetary Fund estimates inflation in Venezuela will hit 475 percent this year. As recently as Friday, Venezuela’s opposition had sought to tighten the screws on Maduro by launching a general strike.
Opponents staged a massive demonstration on Wednesday that drew hundreds of thousands of people, and the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) vowed another protest next Thursday at the presidential palace.