Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday welcomed the “beginning of talks” with the opposition in Norway, following months of bloody clashes between the two sides.
“The talks have begun nicely to move toward agreements of peace, agreement and harmony, and I ask for the support of all Venezuelan people to advance on the path of peace,” Maduro said at a ceremony in front of 6,500 troops in northern Aragua State.
Confronted with the worst socioeconomic crisis in the oil-producing country’s recent history, the socialist leader added that: “Venezuela has to process its conflicts” and seek solutions “by way of peace.”
He declared the “beginning and exploration of conversations and dialogue” with the opposition.
Maduro’s depiction of the talks was at odds with Venezuelan National Assembly President Juan Guaido, who on Thursday denied they were underway.
“There is no negotiation whatsoever,” Guaido told reporters.
Instead, Norwegian officials were “trying to mediate” with both sides to bring them to the table, he said.
Friday’s ceremony in Aragua was attended by Venezuelan Minister of Popular Power for Communication and Information Jorge Rodriguez and Miranda State Governor Hector Rodriguez, the government’s representatives in the Oslo talks.
Maduro hailed the “good news” hours after Norway reported on preliminary contacts between the parties.
Earlier, Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs Jorge Arreaza gave the first official confirmation from Caracas of its involvement in what Norway referred to as exploratory discussions in Oslo.
The mediation bid comes after a months-long power struggle between opposition leader Guaido and the socialist president, with sometimes deadly street clashes.
Maduro on Thursday made no direct reference to the meetings, but said that Rodriguez was “on a very important mission for peace in the country... in Europe.”
Details of the exact process under way in Oslo have been scant.
The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it had made “preliminary contacts with representatives of the main political actors of Venezuela.”
These were “part of an exploratory phase, with the aim of contributing to finding a solution to the situation in the country,” it added.
The opposition said that it was being represented by National Assembly Vice President Stalin Gonzalez and former lawmaker Gerardo Blyde.
US-backed Guaido has been recognized by dozens of countries as interim president after dismissing Maduro’s presidency as “illegitimate” following his re-election last year in polls widely dismissed as rigged.
Maduro has been shunned by much of the international community for presiding over the country’s economic collapse and brutally suppressing dissent.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese