President Nicolas Maduro is asking the leaders of Mexico, Uruguay, and member states of Caricom to renew their efforts to facilitate dialogue between the Venezuelan government and the opposition.
During the latest anti-imperialist march held in the capital streets of Caracas Saturday, Maduro told the crowds: “Venezuela asks for support and accompaniment toward a great dialogue of peace, of understanding,” said the Venezuelan president.
Maduro and his United Socialist Party of Venezuela have repeatedly taken part in facilitated dialogues with national opponents. The internationally-mediated ‘Dominican Republic’ talks that began in 2014 between Maduro’s ruling party and the opposition broke down in February 2018 when lead opposition party, Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), refused to sign the deal they had negotiated.
“Let’s put all the cards on the table. Stop the terrorist attacks and the ambushes, and with the help of Mexico, Bolivia, Uruguay and the Caribbean (nations), Venezuela can create dialogue roundtables with all sectors sooner rather than later,” Maduro told the thousands of supporters gathered in Caracas.
In late January Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) and Uruguay head of state Tabare Vazquez proposed to facilitate talks between Maduro’s administration and the self-proclaimed interim president of Venezuela, Juan Guaido, in Montevideo, Uruguay. Guido said from the beginning he wouldn’t take part in such dialogues with president. Since that time the country has suffered a series of cyber attacks that have caused major electrical outages throughout the nation, likely at the hands of the United States administration that supports a Guido takeover of the Venezuelan government.
An International Contact Group (GCI) comprising Bolivia, Ecuador, Costa Rica and several European nations, was formed in early February to mediate the talks. The process broke down when these facilitators began to demand new elections in Venezuela before the dialogues began even when Maduro democratically won the presidential vote last May by over 60 percent of electoral support.