“They approached positions,” say the opposition and the Venezuelan regime after the end of the third round of dialogue in Mexico

The government and opposition of Venezuela claimed to have moved closer positions during the third round of dialogues that ended this Monday in Mexico City, while condemning recent acts of xenophobia against Venezuelans in Chile.

The working groups “held joint meetings where positions were approached in the search for solutions to the challenges in social, economic and political matters,” said a statement read by Norwegian diplomat Dag Nylander.

The parties did not offer details on the issues that are showing progress in the negotiation, aimed at solving the serious political and economic crisis in which the former oil power is immersed.

“We have taken another successful step,” said Socialist President Nicolás Maduro in statements broadcast on government television.

Its delegates and those of the Unitary Platform also said they had made progress in defining a “consultation mechanism” for the dialogue table that includes “political and social actors.”

To this end, “consultation sessions will be held with various national and international political and social actors, so that an efficient consultation and participation mechanism may be established as soon as possible,” the text added.

– They reject xenophobia –

Both teams rejected, on the other hand, the “acts of xenophobia and violence” against Venezuelan families during a protest against undocumented foreigners last Saturday in the Chilean city of Iquique (north).

These events “constitute a very serious violation” of the rights of migrants, underlined the statement, which also deplored the “hate campaigns against” the Venezuelan population in “various countries.”

During the mobilization in Iquique, some of the 3,000 protesters burned the belongings of Venezuelans who were camping on the street, which prompted an investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office and provoked the rejection of the United Nations and the Chilean government.

The protest was marked by posters and shouts against irregular migrants, mainly Venezuelans, who for years have entered Chile by clandestine passages from Bolivia, crossing the Andes mountain range and the Atacama desert.

The Venezuelan crisis has forced some five million people to emigrate.

– Sanctions vs elections –

The Maduro government and the opposition began new negotiations in Mexico City on August 14 with the facilitation of Norway and the support of the Netherlands and Russia.

Maduro’s representatives primarily point to the lifting of United States sanctions, which include an oil embargo, and the recognition of the president, whose re-election in 2018 is denounced as a fraud by his adversaries.

The opposition, for its part, is seeking an electoral schedule that includes new presidential elections.

Maduro said this Monday that the talks are moving towards “a permanent peace (…) and the recovery of our assets abroad,” referring to Monómeros, a Venezuelan petrochemical company in Colombia whose control had been handed over to the opposition Juan Guaidó.

With representation in the negotiations, Guaidó is recognized as interim president of Venezuela by fifty countries led by the United States, after he proclaimed himself as such in 2019 in his then condition of parliamentary head.

Maduro, whom Washington and several Latin American leaders call a “dictator,” clings to power with the support of the military, Cuba, Russia and China.

The two previous rounds of dialogue closed with agreements on points without major dissent: mechanisms to finance vaccines against covid-19 and the ratification of Venezuela’s “sovereignty” over Guyana.