The Venezuelan government and opposition will return to Oslo this week for a second round of talks as diplomatic efforts to find a solution to the country’s political crisis gather pace. The power struggle between President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaid6, which has dominated Venezuelan politics since the start of the year, has largely ground to a halt. Mr. Guaid0’s hopes of ousting Mr. Maduro quickly have evaporated as the armed forces have stood firm behind the president.
The Trump administration, which enthusiastically backed Mr. Guaid6 at the start of the year, appears increasingly focused on other foreign policy issues – notably Iran and the US trade dispute with China. In the first round of exploratory talks in Oslo, this month representatives of both Mr. Maduro and Mr. Guaid6 outlined their positions to Norwegian mediators but did not meet face to face.
In a video posted on Twitter, Mr. Maduro welcomed the second round as a chance “to look for peace, always to look for peace”. He said his foreign minister Jorge Arreaza, absent from the initial talks.
Venezuela’s opposition hires debt guru Lee Buchheit talks, would join his team. Mr. Guaido’s response was more cautious. While welcoming the initiative, he said the opposition would not be dragged into any process that delayed efforts “to find a solution to the chaos our country is suffering”. The opposition accuses Mr. Maduro of cynically using previous peace talks to gain time and cling to power.
The US sounded a similarly skeptical note. “We believe the only thing to negotiate with Nicolas Maduro is the conditions of his departure,” the state department said in a statement. “We hope the talks in Oslo will focus on that objective, and if they do, we hope progress will be possible.”