Venezuela rivals begin crisis talks

PanARMENIAN.Net - Venezuela's embattled government and opposition leaders agreed Monday, October 31 to hold talks to defuse a growing political crisis, but mistrust lingers after a recall bid against the president was scuttled, AFP reports.

With the mediation of the Vatican and the UNASUR regional group, the two sides agreed after hours-long talks that ended before dawn on an agenda that includes a new meeting next month.

But opponents of socialist President Nicolas Maduro remained wary while the opposition itself is divided over the strategy, with some groups refusing to sit down with the government.

"Whether this dialogue has or doesn't have continuity will depend on concrete gestures from the government," said Jesus Torrealba, executive secretary of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), the opposition group participating in the talks.

"The opening of this dialogue doesn't mean by a long shot that the struggle will stop," Torrealba said.

But Torrealba suggested that the opposition could reconsider holding a planned a protest on Thursday in front of the Miraflores presidential palace, AFP says.

Seated at a museum on the outskirts of Caracas as the talks began late Sunday, Maduro expressed his "total and absolute commitment to dialogue."

The U.S. government, which has had difficult relations with Venezuela dating back to the late leftist icon Hugo Chavez, announced that senior diplomat Thomas Shannon was headed to Venezuela on Monday to back the political dialogue.

"His visit will underscore our support for the ongoing dialogue process, and our interest in the wellbeing of the Venezuelan people," the State Department said.