Venezuela signals ‘partial agreements’ at talks with opposition in Mexico

A senior Venezuelan government official has said negotiations with the opposition were being conducted in a cordial atmosphere in Mexico and so far yielded "partial agreements."

National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez, who heads an official delegation in talks with the country's opposition in Mexico, arrived in Mexico City on Friday to conduct a second round of negotiations with the opposition delegation.

He said on Saturday that the second round of talks, which were scheduled to end on Monday, yielded "partial agreements."

"We have been working mainly on partial agreements, especially those related to serving the people of Venezuela," Rodriguez told reporters.

The head of the opposition delegation, Gerardo Blyde, said the talks were "complex," but expressed hope that they "will seek to alleviate the crisis."

The negotiations mediated by Norway and hosted by Mexico, aim to resolve the years-long crisis in the Latin American country.

The country’s opposition alliance, the so-called Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), which is led by the US-sponsored opposition figure Juan Guaido, changed course this week when it said that it would end a three-year election boycott and take part in mayoral and gubernatorial elections in November.

Maduro welcomed the lifting of the boycott as “worthy of applause,” saying that the “popular sovereignty has been reimposed.”

“I will sit in my armchair with popcorn on November 21 to watch Juan Guaido vote,” he said in a televised speech on Tuesday. “And there, I will applaud because we managed to include him in democracy again.”

SS