MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Maduro vows to dialogue with opposition in 2017 and 2018

Nicolas Maduro intends to talk his way through to the end of his term

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said on Sunday he hopes to maintain dialogue with the opposition in 2017 and 2018, although his opponents insist on calling for elections as soon as possible to seek a change of government.

 “I will not allow anyone to get up from the dialogue table,” said Maduro during a military event radio and television broadcast. “At that dialogue table we shall stayall year 2017 and all year 2018,” he added.

Nevertheless, the opposition coalition Mesa de la Unidad Democrática (MUD) has maintained that its objective is to solve the serious political and economic crisis through popular vote. Earlier Sunday, MUD's executive secretary Jesús Torrealba had said that “the opposition must use this space of struggle, such as the street and the opposition parliament, to achieve what we want: an electoral solution to the Venezuelan drama.”

Other opposition leaders such as former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles have stressed that the central point of the dialogue should be to reactivate a referendum against Maduro, whose impeachment proceedings were suspended on October 20, or to bring forward the presidential elections scheduled for December 2018.

Both scenarios have been dismissed by the ruling party. “We will not give up, not for good or bad,” warned Maduro in the commemoration of the 96 anniversary of the Military Aviation in the city of Maracay, in the state of Aragua.

The parties are to meet again on December 6 in a third round of negotiations launched on October 30 at the request of the Vatican. “If you ask me what's going to happen to the dialogue, I'd say it's not going anywhere,” said Parliamanet Speaker and opposition leader Henry Ramos Allup.

Government and opposition have exchanged accusations about non-compliance with the agreements reached on November 12: peaceful coexistence, measures to alleviate the shortage of basic products and normalization of relations between public powers, faced since the MUD seized Legislative majority in January.