Venezuela opposition scraps Maduro trial but presses demands

Venezuela freed four activists and the opposition postponed a symbolic trial in congress of President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday even as it warned it would quit Vatican-backed talks in a matter of days if tough conditions were not met, APA reports quoting Reuters.

 

Maduro met with opposition leaders on Sunday for the start of talks to ease a political standoff between the ruling Socialist Party and the opposition-led parliament during a spiraling economic crisis.

 

As well as suspending its parliamentary proceedings against Maduro, the opposition also agreed to postpone a march planned for Thursday to the presidential palace that the government had described as part of a coup plot.

 

But it demanded that the government release around 100 jailed opposition activists and bring forward the next presidential election - conditions that are likely to meet with significant resistance from government leaders.

 

Venezuela's next presidential election is due in late 2018.

 

"We have put these points on the table, not so that they can be addressed in months but rather in the coming days and weeks," said opposition legislative leader Julio Borges during Tuesday's session. "Otherwise, we will walk away from the negotiating table and continue with our struggle."

 

Without concrete progress, Borges said, the opposition would reopen the political trial and resume protests. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets last week in demonstrations that left dozens arrested and wounded.

 

Maduro's adversaries accuse him of creating a dictatorship by leaning on compliant institutions to block the recall referendum and sideline the National Assembly.

 

The Socialist Party lost control of the legislature in a landslide election in 2015 that was driven primarily by voter outrage over triple-digit inflation and widespread product shortages that have left many unable to eat three meals per day.