Rivals restart negotiations to break political impasse

Representatives of Nicolás Maduro’s government and the opposition signed an agreement in Mexico City to begin talks aimed at ending a five-year political impasse and addressing the nation’s economic collapse.

The head of opposition’s delegation, Gerardo Blyde, said each side’s willingness and the common understanding that Venezuela is in the midst of its “worst crisis” in modern times made Friday night’s pact possible.

The parties agreed to discuss, among other topics, a schedule for elections with international observers, lifting of sanctions on Venezuela and the restoration of the right to use Venezuelan frozen assets abroad.

Opposition leader Juan Guaidó said on Twitter that the deal means the possibility of reaching a solution “to the national catastrophe.”

For Maduro’s lead representative and National Assembly chief Jorge Rodriguez, Venezuelans

now have the chance to settle issues “without any interference,” which could yield rapid progress. “We are ready for early agreements.”

Dag Nylander, representative of the Norwegian government that’s acting as mediator, struck an upbeat tone and declared that the talks deserve “strong support from the international community.”

The sides are trying to reach an agreement ahead of elections on Nov. 21 for mayoral and gubernatorial posts across Venezuela. Opposition parties have boycotted several previous votes, arguing they lacked basic safeguards to make them free and fair.

Stalin Gonzalez, former vice president of the National Assembly who will represent the opposition, said that after its signing the sides will return to Mexico later this month or early September to begin negotiations.

“The regime doesn’t have the capacity to solve this situation by itself,” he said of the country’s economic collapse. “We’ll look for ways to resolve this and help the people. It has to be a long-term agreement.”

Several previous rounds of negotiations ended in failure. This round has a better chance of succeeding as the two sides and foreign governments, including the U.S. and European Union, are more open to finding middle ground on issues like humanitarian aid and human rights, said Maryhen Jimenez, a political scientist at the University of Oxford.