Venezuelan Opposition Coalition Suspends Talks With Government

The head of Venezuelan opposition coalition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), Ramón José Medina, announced on Tuesday that the coalition was abandoning efforts to hash out a compromise with the government of Nicolás Maduro over several key issues, adding that members may not attend the latest round of talks planned for Thursday. El Nacional reports that Medina cited a recent raid and arrest of over 200 student demonstrators at a Caracas encampment as well as further arrests during another student protest on Monday. Since dialogues began several weeks ago, almost 700 have been arrested and nearly 50 remain in detention in connection to clashes with security forces.

“As of today, a meeting still hasn’t been set with the student movement. They’ve got their spokespeople and their demands,” MUD secretary Ramón Guillermo Aveledo told El Universal. “The country wants dialogue, the country needs dialogue. The government must decide whether it does or does not want dialogue.” He went on to referencing the results of an April survey finding that almost 80 percent of the Venezuelan public believed the country was headed in the wrong direction. “8 out of 10 Venezuelans want dialogue, because they know the country is in a crisis.”

Among other grievances cited by MUD members were insufficient resolutions on a proposed truth commission designed to investigate violence during protests -- National Assembly president Diosdado Cabello, a member of Maduro’s Socialist Party and staunch foe of the opposition, appointed himself the head of that commission, which will also be composed entirely of Socialist lawmakers -- and a new law being contemplated by the Assembly which the opposition says would reconstitute districts to do away with opposition-held mayoralties and governorships. Medina also said little or no progress had been made on the question of medical treatment and amnesty for imprisoned opposition members -- the latter an idea the government has rejected flatly.