The US State Department organized the second meeting between the Maduro regime and the Venezuelan opposition

The spokesperson for the US State Department, Ned Price celebrated the resumption of talks between Chavismo and the opposition in Mexico on Friday.

By a message on your Twitter account, Price expressed his approval for “the start of comprehensive negotiations led by Venezuela in Mexico. We hope that this process lays the foundations for the democratic result that Venezuelans deserve ”.

“We stand in solidarity with the Venezuelan people as they work to peacefully restore democracy to their country.”he added.

The regime of Nicolás Maduro and the United Platform of Venezuela, which brings together the main opposition parties, on Friday began a new cycle of meetings in Mexico City, the scene of some contacts that they concluded with a “protocol of agreement “under the arm and what tangible progress towards political agreements should start to emerge.

The two delegations met from 3:00 p.m. local time (8:00 p.m. GMT), according to sources close to this dialogue table, moderated by Norway and with the support of Mexico.

A suite of 11 people led by Jorge Rodríguez, Speaker of the ruling Parliament and Maduro’s henchman, arrived Friday afternoon at Benito Juárez airport in Mexico City.

“We come with deep expectations. We have been instructed by President Nicolás Maduro to focus on restoring the economic guarantees that have been stolen from the Venezuelan people “Rodríguez said in statements on state television VTV.

The opposition, for its part, arrived in Mexico with changes: the leader Freddy Guevara – a close associate of opposition leader Juan Guaidó – will replace Carlos Vecchio, Guaidó’s representative in the United States, whose presence generated unease in the official bloc, confirmed to the AFP a source close to the negotiation.

The two camps saw each other in mid-August, in a gesture already relevant given the public contempt they have professed in recent years, marked by a bicephay in which, in front of Maduro, the opponent Juan Guaido he defended himself in front of Venezuela and the world as president in charge and, therefore, legitimate.

However, The growing international pressure on Chavismo, through sanctions, and the lack of achievements in the opposition’s strategy have led the parties to move forward towards a process of dialogue in which Mexico acts as host and Norway. as a mediator. under the common principle that any agreement that is sealed must be signed without outside interference.

The first contacts in August resulted in the commitment to go back to the table September 3-6, already with a clearer “road map”, but with a message that already seems familiar in Venezuela after several failures of the dialogue process.

“The negotiation will take place on the principle that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”, says the memorandum of understanding, yes opens the door to “the conclusion of partial agreements” if we consider that there is an “urgent” need to put them into practice.

In everyone’s mind, the regional and local elections of November 21, in which for the first time in three years the Unitary Platform has offered to participate, which once again recovers the common flag of the Table of Democratic Unity (MUD), with which the opposition has achieved its last successes electoral.

The parties of the so-called G4 -Voluntad Popular, Acción Democrática, Primero Justicia and Un Nuevo Tiempo- assume that “these will not be fair or conventional elections”, but they also see it “A useful field of struggle to strengthen citizenship and promote the real solution”, that is to say, the convocation of “free” presidential and parliamentary women.

Guaidó, member of Voluntad Popular, avoided immediately joining this call for participation, for which he initially pleaded the former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, rather favorable to the opening of new strategies and the establishment of alternative contacts.

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