Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaid6 has rejected further direct talks in Oslo with the leftist government of Nicolas Maduro, as broader international efforts to broker a solution to the country’s growing political and humanitarian crisis gather pace. More than 4m Venezuelans have fled their country over the past four years amid an economic collapse that economists say has few parallels in peacetime anywhere in the world. Experts say that water, electricity, fuel, and food supplies are crumbling and mortality rates from common diseases are rising alarmingly.
Mr. Guaid6, who has been recognized by the US and more than 50 other countries as Venezuela’s rightful interim president, told a rally that he would only accept fresh talks if Mr. Maduro agreed to step aside and hand over to a transitional government pending fresh elections. “Nobody in their right mind sits down with dictators believing in their good faith,” he said.
Two rounds of talks between the Maduro government and the opposition hosted by Norway have so far failed to break the political deadlock in Venezuela that followed Mr. Maduro’s victory last year in what was widely seen as a rigged election. Both the US and the Venezuelan opposition fear that the Maduro government is exploiting the Oslo process to play for time.
Mr. Guaido’s ambassador to Washington, Carlos Vecchio, told the Financial Times there were no plans for the third round of Oslo talks. “We’ve asked [the Caracas government] whether they’re prepared to discuss a presidential election without Maduro in power and so far … the reply is that they’re not,” he said. “There won’t be another opportunity to talk unless they’re ready to discuss this.”
However a much broader international diplomatic effort on Venezuela is unfolding in parallel, led by the Lima Group of Latin American countries, which also includes Canada. They are attempting to engage some of the main backers of the Maduro government, in particular Russia, Cuba, China and Turkey.