Venezuela’s Maduro ‘optimistic’ as crisis talks resume

CARACAS-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said he was “optimistic” as talks between the government and the opposition to resolve the country’s political crisis resumed on Monday. The two sides have been engaged in a bitter power struggle since January and preliminary talks held in May in Oslo petered out without an agreement. Mr Maduro said a six-point agenda was being discussed at the meeting which is being hosted by Barbados. He did not give further details. The Norwegian foreign ministry is again acting as a mediator, as it did at the previous meeting in Oslo, but has so far onlycommented to confirm the meeting was taking place. Mr Maduro revealed that Monday’s meeting lasted five hours. He also said he thought “a path to peace” could be found. Juan Guaidó, the head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, laid out the opposition’s aim on Twitter on Sunday. The statement [in Spanish] said the goal was to “negotiate a way out from the dictatorship”.The roadmap the opposition proposes consists of three points: an end to the “usurpation of power” by the government of President Nicolás Maduro, a transitional government and free elections monitored by international observers. Mr Guaidó and President Maduro have been at loggerheads since January, when the former invoked the constitution and declared himself interim president, arguing that the elections which had returned Mr Maduro to power for a second term in 2018 had not been free and fair. (BBC)