Venezuelan Opposition Says No More Talks with Maduro

HAVANA TIMES – A Norwegian delegation is about to visit Venezuela, the South American country’s opposition said on Friday, but added that it would not resume the negotiations with the government that had been mediated by Oslo.

The negotiation process that took place in Oslo and Barbados last year “has been closed and we shall therefore not attend meetings,” said a statement issued by the office of opposition leader Juan Guaido, whom dozens of countries have recognized as Venezuela’s interim president.

The office announced the visit of the Norwegian delegation after the opposition and President Nicolas Maduro’s government struggled for control of the National Assembly earlier this week.

Guaido and pro-government legislator Luis Parra were both elected parliamentary speaker by different groups of lawmakers. Guaido supporters had previously stormed the building despite soldiers trying to keep them out.

“It is obvious that the regime, when militarily assaulting the National Assembly … has shown that it has decided to block all political solutions,” Guaido’s office said.

“Maduro has prevented any negotiated solution to the Venezuelan crisis,” the statement added.

In September, the opposition announced the collapse of the talks mediated by Norway, which took place in Oslo and Barbados over several months.

A month earlier, the government had pulled out of the talks, accusing the opposition of supporting US sanctions against Venezuela.

Maduro won a second term in controversial elections in 2018 and has presided over a massive economic crisis.

Guaido declared himself interim president a year ago, but his campaign to oust Maduro floundered after the army refused to turn against the president.