Gulf News

Venezuela leader’s talks plan rejected

Maduro had a private audience with the pope at the Vatican on Monday

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Venezuela’s government on Monday proposed talks to ease the country’s political crisis after Pope Francis intervened, but an opposition leader branded it a ploy by President Nicolas Maduro to cling to power.

The move had aimed to calm tensions after the opposition accused the socialist president of staging a “coup d’etat” by blocking its bid for a vote on removing him.

‘Taking advantage’

But the opposition said Maduro had jumped the gun by announcing the talks before terms had been agreed. One leader accused him of taking advantage of the pope’s “good faith”.

Months of tension that have included riots and looting threatened to boil over after authoritie­s enraged the opposition last week by annulling its drive for a recall referendum.

Maduro had a private audience with the pope at the Vatican on Monday. He said afterwards that Francis had supported the opening of a “formal dialogue” between government and opposition.

Papal envoy Emil Paul Tscherrig said separately in Caracas that both sides had launched a “national dialogue.”

He said they aimed to formally open talks on October 30 on the Venezuelan island of Margarita.

The opposition MUD coalition later insisted it had not agreed to those terms, though it welcomed the Vatican’s efforts to help.

“What dialogue? No dialogue has been started in Venezuela,” said Henrique Capriles, a senior MUD figure, in an address broadcast online.

Maduro’s side “is trying to use Pope Francis’s good faith and the good faith of the Vatican envoy ... to say: nothing has gone wrong here,” he alleged.

“Rest assured the opposition will never go along with that.”

The MUD said in a statement separately that it would only enter talks if the government respected the right to a referendum and freed political prisoners, among other demands.

Maduro has repeatedly refused to allow a referendum.

The MUD statement also said any talks should take place in the capital Caracas, “in the public eye.”

 ?? AFP ?? Riot police confront students protesting against Nicolas Maduro’s government in San Cristobal, Venezuela.
AFP Riot police confront students protesting against Nicolas Maduro’s government in San Cristobal, Venezuela.

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