01 November 2016•Update: 01 November 2016
By Senabri Silvestre
SANTO DOMINGO, Dom. Rep.
Venezuela’s government and the opposition agreed on Monday to create worktables in a bid to resolve a host of issues plaguing the South American nation.
The four worktables -- on governance, electoral timetables, the crippling economic crisis and compensation for its victims -- came out of the first meeting between the sides as part of a national dialogue effort initiated Sunday.
They agreed to meet again Nov. 11, said Italian prelate Claudio Maria Celli, the Vatican mediator, according to local media.
The groups are coordinated by the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the Church, according to a statement read out by Celli at the end of the encounter.
Former presidents of Spain, Dominican Republic, and Panama are involved in the dialogue effort, as well as the Holy See.
The first meeting between the government and representatives of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) "was respectful, constructive and frank", Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said after his private talk with Celli and the U.S. Under Secretary of State Thomas Shannon, who arrived in Caracas Monday to assist the process.
Venezuela is in dire straits amid a failing economy blamed on the Maduro administration, compounded by falling oil prices that have had a devastating impact on the country, once one of the leading oil exporters in the world.
The economic crisis is coupled with a political bottleneck, where the parliament has been invalidated by the Supreme Court, while lawmakers and Maduro exchange accusations of staging a coup d’etat as they remain gridlocked in partisan warfare.
