Handout picture released by the Venezuelan Presidency showing President Nicolas Maduro talking during a meeting with Venezuelan diplomats returning from the US, at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas on Jan 28, 2019.
(VENEZUELAN PRESIDENCY / AFP)
Venezuela’s opposition replaced one of its representatives in political negotiations held in Mexico after President Nicolas Maduro’s government vetoed his participation in the talks that restarted on Friday.
Carlos Vecchio, the political opposition’s envoy to the US, stepped down from the talks aimed at overcoming a political stalemate amid the country’s worst general crisis in decades.
Carlos Vecchio, the political opposition’s envoy to the US, stepped down from the talks aimed at overcoming a political stalemate amid the country’s worst general crisis in decades
“My actions in favor of Venezuela’s freedom have annoyed the dictatorship,” leading government representatives to “request this exclusion” from the talks, Vecchio said in a statement posted on his Twitter account.
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Freddy Guevara, a Popular Will party leader recently released from prison, will replace Vecchio, the opposition representatives said on their respective Twitter accounts.
The parties are working on “early humanitarian agreements” that will be announced soon, Gerardo Blyde, another opposition participant in the talks, said on Twitter.
The government has said it plans to use the new round of talks, which end on Sept 6, to demand an easing of opposition-supported US sanctions, which it says has damaged the Venezuelan economy.
READ MORE: Venezuela releases opposition leader to attend Mexico talks
