President Danilo Medina announced that a follow up meeting with the participation of Venezuelan government and opposition leaders would take place in Santo Domingo on 15 December 2017. This would be the third meeting in Santo Domingo of the Venezuelan political factions. A first meeting was held in Santo Domingo on 13 September 2017.
The groups met for two days of talks (1-2 December 2017) with President Medina, former Spanish President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas as facilitators at the convention center of the Ministry of Foreign Relations.
“Government representatives and opposition leaders have declared significant advances in the search for an agreement for a peaceful solution to the crisis,” said Medina. He said there were agreements on six points and firm goodwill to advance in the talks.
The president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, opposition leader Julio Borges and the minister for Communication and Information of Venezuela Jorge Rodríguez reaffirmed the positions they have maintained in the talks. Borges said he will continue to defend the rights of Venezuelans to health and food security and continued to insist that free elections be held. Rodriguez said it was an achievement that the opposition agreed to attend the talks. He praised the role of the foreign ministers of Mexico, Bolivia, Chile, Nicaragua and host Dominican Republic that participated, calling them friends of the peace in Venezuela.
Participating for the government of Venezuela were Jorge Rodriguez, Communications Minister and Delcy Rodriguez, president of the Asamblea Constituyente. The participants for the opposition in the talks have been: Julio Borges, deputy Luis Florido, Vicente Diaz, former rector of the National Electoral Council, Ana Leonor Acosta of the Committee of Relatives of Political Prisoners, and Alonso Medina Roa, of the Penal Forum.
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Listin Diario
Diario Libre
Daily Herald
Reuters
