We Have No Guarantees To Resume Talks With Opposition: Maduro

On Wednesday, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro doubted that his administration could continue negotiating with the opposition, which he accused of not complying with previously-signed agreements.

RELATED: 

Venezuela Recalls The Battle Of La Victoria's 209th Anniversary

"If they cannot comply with an agreement that has been discussed for months and was signed with international observers, what guarantees, certainty, or motivation can the revolutionary government have to sit down again to negotiate with this sector? None," the Bolivarian leader said.

Maduro recalled that the opposition did not concretize the Second Partial Agreement for the Protection of the Venezuelan People, which both parties signed in November 2022 to guarantee that Venezuela recovers about US$3.2 billion retained in the international financial system due to the U.S. blockade.

"This sector has no word. It called for sanctions and the U.S. invasion. Now its members try to apologize. They sit down to talk about the call we have made and sign an agreement that they do not recognize," he insisted.

The negotiations between the Venezuelan government and the opposition resumed in November 2022 after being suspended for 15 months due to the extradition to the U.S. of the Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab.

"If I sign a document, I establish a commitment, a moral, ethical, spiritual obligation to fulfill and enforce what the agreement establishes," said Jorge Rodriguez, the Venezuelan Parliament President and head of the official delegation in negotiations with the opposition.

"We want to carry on negotiations in Mexico. However, there is no reason to pursue this initiative if the opposition does not comply with what we had agreed before,” he pointed out.