Ex-presidents meet with Venezuela government, opposition

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) – A group of former presidents has held secret meetings in the Dominican Republic with Venezuelan officials and government opponents in an attempt to mediate the South American nation’s political standoff, an opposition leader confirmed Saturday.

Jesus Torrealba, executive secretary of the opposition alliance, confirmed that the meetings, which were initiated under the auspices of the Union of South American Nations, or UNASUR, took place. But he said there was no face-to-face encounter, and instead the two sides exchanged messages through the ex-presidents.

Telesur reported that the Venezuelan government was represented Friday by Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez and two top officials in the ruling socialist party. Three lawmakers were there for the opposition.

Amid a severe economic crisis marked by triple-digit inflation and shortages of basic goods, Venezuela’s opposition has been pushing for a referendum on whether to recall President Nicolas Maduro.

Numerous foreign governments and organizations such as the United Nations and the Organization of American States have been calling for urgent talks in Venezuela, fearing further upheaval in a country that’s home to about 30 million people and the world’s largest proven oil reserves.

The meetings came a week after ex-presidents Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain and Leonel Fernandez of the Dominican Republic announced that with UNASUR’s blessing they would seek to initiate a “national dialogue” in Venezuela. Panamanian former President Martin Torrijos was also part of the international commission.

Following criticism that the encounters were held in secret, Torrealba said via Twitter that opposition representatives stressed several “indispensable” demands for any dialogue: allowing the recall referendum to proceed, the release of people it considers political prisoners, solving the economic crisis and for the government to “respect” the constitution and the opposition-controlled congress.

He added that the opposition would provide details on the content of the Dominican meetings when its representatives return to Venezuela.

Even indirect contact between the opposition and the government is a rare achievement in deeply polarized Venezuela, where the last time the two sides sat down for formal talks was in 2014 following weeks of anti-government protests in which more than 40 people were killed.

Maduro delivered a constitutionally mandated state of the union address to congress in January, but for the most part government leaders and their opponents prefer to trade insults and accusations of conspiratorial intrigue from afar.