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News > Latin America

Splintered Venezuelan Opposition Meets with Mediators in Dominican Republic

  • Dominican Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas and President Danilo Medina.

    Dominican Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas and President Danilo Medina. | Photo: EFE

Published 25 October 2017
Opinion

After their loss in regional elections, the Venezuelan opposition is showing further signs of internal rifts.

Officials of the Dominican Republic, which is serving as mediator, said Venezuela's opposition is expected to resume dialogue with the government after meeting with members of the splintered group on the Carribean island.

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The new round of talks, the dates of which has yet to be confirmed, will be held in Santo Domingo according to Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas Maldonado.

The opposition, led by Julio Borges and other members of the MUD coalition, met with President Danilo Medina saying that they need certain guarantees to return to negotiations, which they scrapped by failing to attend the last round of scheduled talks.

The Democratic Unity Roundtable coalition, which was hoping to make major gains in the regional elections on Oct. 15, instead lost 18 out of 23 governor's seats to the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

Tensions within the coalition came to a head after four governors from the Democratic Action party decided to take the oath of office in front of the National Constituent Assembly.

Henrique Capriles, from First Justice and the past opposition presidential candidate, announced he will withdraw from the coalition, further exposing the cracks within the right-wing.

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Some opposition factions have accused the government of President Nicolas Maduro of rigging the elections and using undemocratic means to gain votes. Opposition lawmaker Luis Florido said a part of the opposition will travel to the United Nations to demand "a complete audit" of the elections, even though to date, they have not submitted a single official complaint to the National Electoral Council.

Ali de Jesus Uzcategui, Venezuelan ambassador in the Dominican Republic said that the opposition should bring forward proof of irregularities, and work towards peace in the country.

"We have to remember that President Nicolas Maduro has presented the idea of coming to the Dominican Republic to sign the agreement that will come out of this dialogue," Uzcategui said.

The government and the opposition began a dialogue in 2016, with the support of the Vatican and Unasur, to overcome the Venezuelan political crisis, but the opposition left those talks.

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