In Venezuela, government and opposition continue dialogue — Anadolu Agency
In Caracas, Venezuela, government and opposition representatives on September 18 continued the second round of dialogue with US support. The talks are being held at the Melia Caracas hotel, where the delegations began the second round the previous day. No public statements to the media were planned during the meetings, Anadolu Agency reports.
Negotiation topics
The sides did not disclose details of the discussions. Issues the participants are expected to consider include political guarantees, freedom of expression, political prisoners and judicial reform. The opposition said the second stage would address civil and political guarantees and freedom of expression.
Opposition delegation representative Dinorah Figuera said before the meeting that the participants in the talks were responsibly approaching the task of creating a path to democracy for Venezuelans. Earlier this week, she also said that the delegation would continue discussions on restoring the institutional functioning of Venezuela's Supreme Court, including the procedure for nominating new judges.
According to Figuera, the sides were also expected to discuss the conditions for a future electoral process. She called for the release of political prisoners.
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First-round agreements
The first round of dialogue ended with two agreements, one of which concerned the renewal of Venezuela's Supreme Court. The sides also agreed to seek the return of Venezuelan assets held at the Bank of England to help those affected by the earthquakes that occurred in the country in June.
According to reports, the participants in the talks moved closer to an agreement on transferring about $4 billion in gold reserves from the Bank of England to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The dialogue resumed after Venezuelan authorities announced the lifting of restrictions on several local and international news websites that had been blocked for years.
Prominent opposition leaders María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia were not included in the opposition delegation. According to the agency, the talks are taking place under interim President Delcy Rodríguez following the capture of former President Nicolás Maduro during a US operation on January 3.
