Venezuelan government, opposition leaders to meet in Mexico

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The fragile process, however, fell apart when the administration of then-President Donald Trump announced sweeping new sanctions freezing all of the Venezuelan government’s assets in the U.S. Maduro’s allies would not return to the table. Maduro last weekend said he will ask for the “lifting of all sanctions,” which have exacerbated the country’s punishing economic crisis, the “recognition of legitimate and constitutional authorities,” and that the opposition “renounce the violence.” Meanwhile, the opposition’s demands include an electoral schedule, a massive plan to import COVID-19 vaccines and the guarantee of transparent elections. “But if you define it as an actual improvement in human rights conditions, for example freedom of assembly or freedom of the press, then I’m not sure there will be progress.” Abrams pointed to the re-arrest last month of Freddy Guevara, a top opposition strategist, as a sign that Maduro remains firmly in control of the judiciary and security forces and won’t hesitate to use them against opponents should he tire of talks. Maduro accuses Guevara of having ties to “extremist groups.” Guevara previously spent three years holed up in the Chilean ambassador’s residence in Caracas until the charges were dropped last year as part of a political thawing that has accelerated with the election of Joe Biden.