WASHINGTON: Venezuela’s interim government on Wednesday began a third round of talks with opposition representatives on a democratic transition, a senior US State Department official said.
The US-sponsored talks on transitioning from the hardline socialist rule of ousted ex-president Nicolas Maduro began in August.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the latest negotiations would focus on “the political process, on elections, on involvement of different political parties, and other things like that.”
He said the current talks are expected to last until the end of next week.
Washington following its January ouster of Maduro nudged interim President Delcy Rodriguez, a former Maduro loyalist who was his vice president, to negotiate with an opposition delegation led by Dinorah Figuera.
Figuera led a political bloc that won a majority in the 2015 National Assembly, the last legislature elected in a vote widely recognized by the western powers.
Exiled opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has been sidelined from the negotiations.
The State Department official highlighted “concrete progress” in the first two rounds of talks on issues including “reforms towards an independent Supreme Court, website access, and reform of repressive laws.”
The third round will continue “building the structural framework and institutions necessary for elections and a democratic transition,” he added.
Maduro oversaw an allegedly authoritarian government, marked by two reelections dismissed as fraudulent by the west.
He and his wife were captured by US forces in a raid on Caracas in January and flown to New York to face trial.
Since taking over, Rodriguez has released hundreds of political prisoners and closed the notorious El Helicoide detention center, where rights groups say inmates were tortured.
Her government has also announced plans to reform the judiciary and unblocked some news sites that had been censored for years.
Hundreds of political prisoners remain behind bars, however, according to rights groups.
