SANTO DOMINGO: Negotiations between the Venezuelan government and the opposition in the Dominican capital Santo Domingo will resume on January 18, said Dominican President Danilo Medina, who mediated the talks.
He said that despite major progress, the sides were unable to reach a final agreement during the three-day talks aimed at settling the political crisis in the country.
“We have made very serious progress. However, several issues are yet to be solved. We agreed to continue the talks on Thursday, January 18, in Santo Domingo,” Medina told a media briefing to comment on results of the negotiations, televised by the Telesur TV channel.
“The government and the opposition managed to agree on the majority of questions raised. We need to settle a number of other issues. I’m sure this will be done on January 18,” the Dominican leader added.
The negotiations were held behind closed doors in the Dominican Foreign Ministry’s office. They lasted 12 hours on Friday and eight hours on Saturday.
The Venezuelan governmental delegation was led by telecoms minister Jorge Rodrigues and Constitutional Assembly president Delcy Rodriguez. The opposition’s delegation was led by lawmaker Julio Borges.
The talks were mediated by Medina, along with Ex-Spanish-Prime-Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and envoys of Chile, Mexico, Bolivia and Nicaragua.
Since April 2017, Venezuela has been in the grips of protests steered by the opposition following the rulings of the Supreme Court to limit the functions of the parliament controlled by President Nicolas Maduro’s political opponents. More than 120 people died in clashes and thousands of participants in the manifestations received injuries.
The first round of consultations on settling the crisis was held in Santo Domingo on September 13-14, the second – on December 1-2, and the third – on December 15. No formal agreement was signed so far.
