Venezuelan gov't, opposition to resume long-suspended talks on ending political crisis

Oct. 17 (UPI) -- The Venezuelan government and the opposition Unitary Platform have agreed to resume long-shuttered negotiations that aim to end the South American country's protracted political and economic crisis, setting the stage for heavy U.S. sanctions applied against Caracas to be repealed.

The Norway-mediated negotiations are to resume Tuesday in Bridgetown, Barbados, Oslo's embassy in Mexico said, marking a resumption of talks that have been shelved since November 2022.

"The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Unitary Platform of Venezuela have decided to resume the process of dialogue and negotiation ... with the aim of reaching a political agreement," the embassy's Monday statement said.

Venezuela has been submerged in a political crisis since the widely discredited 2018 re-election of authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro.

Opposition politician and leader of the former interim government Juan Guaido challenged his rule with the backing of the United States and dozens of other nations.

Sanctions were heavily applied against Venezuela in an effort to unseat its authoritarian president, but as the effort failed, international support waned for Guaido's government.

In response, opposition political parities and civil society formed the Unitary Platform in April 2021, and Norway-mediated negotiations that had been stalled since October 2021 resumed in November 2022, the U.S. Congressional Research Service said in a September report.

Since then, however, Maduro has been unwilling to return to the negotiating table, the report said.

"I deeply congratulate the Venezuelan opposition, the government of Venezuela, the kingdom of Norway and the government of the United States for opening a channel of dialogue to overcome the political conflicts in the brother country," Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on X, the social media company formerly known as Twitter.

The United States late Monday issued a brief statement welcoming the announcement that talks will be resumed.

"Along with likeminded partners and other friends of Venezuela, the United States will continue its efforts to unite the international community in support of the Venezuelan-led negotiation process," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

The resumption of Venezuela-opposition talks could create conditions to permit the United States to repeal some of the debilitating sanctions it has slapped against the Maduro regime over the years.

The United States has repeatedly expressed its willingness to review its Venezuela punitive measures policy "if the regime makes meaningful progress" that brings the country closer to the restoration of democracy.

The announcement comes days before Venezuela is scheduled Sunday to hold a primary election between more than a dozen opposition politicians to select which one will go up against Maduro in next year's election.