Former Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez was in Caracas, Venezuela on Monday, 24 April 2017, to meet with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Fernández had been a proponent of last year’s negotiations between political sectors in Venezuela that collapsed over the government’s refusal to meet opposition demands for elections and the release of political prisoners.
The meeting of Fernández and Maduro comes right after Maduro had requested that the former statesmen who had participated in dialogue talks (Martín Torrijos, Panama; José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spain and Leonel, Fernández, Dominican Republic) meet with him.
The talks with the Maduro government are taking place even as opposition leaders reject Maduro’s invitation for talks. Major protests are taking place in cities throughout Venezuela as citizens are demanding the immediate scheduling of elections. Demonstrations have sometimes turned violent and have led to the deaths of 20 protestors. Presidential elections are not scheduled until 2018.
26 April 2017
