Washington, United States
The United States on Thursday praised the conclusion of the latest round of talks toward a democratic transition between Venezuela’s interim government and opposition representatives.
The U.S.-sponsored talks on transitioning from the hardline socialist rule of ousted ex-president Nicolas Maduro began in August.
Washington is under pressure to organize democratic elections following its January ouster of Maduro.
It nudged interim President Delcy Rodriguez, a former Maduro loyalist who was his vice president, to negotiate with an opposition delegation led by Dinorah Figuera.
“I welcome and recognize the efforts of the parties sitting at this dialogue table to move forward in the area of political guarantees for everyone,” Rodriguez said at the end of Thursday’s meeting with the opposition, held at the presidential palace.
Figuera led a political bloc that won a majority in the 2015 National Assembly, the last legislature elected in a vote widely recognized by the international community.
The third round of talks “delivered tangible results including agreement to work to review and revise several repressive laws to increase political and social freedom and guarantee the participation of all political actors,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement.
It also hailed progress on “rebuilding an independent Supreme Court.”
Since the talks started, the process has strengthened press freedoms, restored access to more than 70 previously blocked websites, “produced an agreement to recover gold holdings in the Bank of England for earthquake relief, and advanced efforts to reform the repressive Law Against Hatred,” it said.
The statement also said the Trump administration remains committed to supporting a Venezuelan-led process toward a peaceful democratic transition.
Exiled opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has been sidelined from the negotiations, and thousands protested in Caracas and other cities on Thursday demanding her return to the country.
