MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Guaidó: Oslo talks must ensure exit of Maduro and free and fair elections

The main issue in Oslo is the question of staging “free and fair” elections as demanded by Guaido, who leads the elected National Assembly

Talks between Venezuela's government and opposition on ending months of the crisis were underway in Norway, sources said on Tuesday, but Washington insisted that the only item for discussion should be President Nicolas Maduro's removal.

US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido, who more than 50 countries recognize as interim president, had been leading a push to oust leftist firebrand Maduro, who presides over a crumbling economy.

But the opposition agreed to come to the table under Norwegian auspices after an army uprising coupled with street protests, which Guaido hoped would deal decisive blow, instead fizzled out a month ago.

Norwegian diplomats had said that the two sides would meet this week in Norway in their first face-to-face meeting since Guaido claimed power in January, without specifying a date or venue.

Maduro, while describing the opposition as “extremist” and working on behalf of the United States, promised to make an effort to resolve the crisis.

“We are going to be showing our very best good faith ... to be able to find, based on the platform the parties agreed on, peaceful, democratic solutions to help overcome Venezuela's conflict,” Maduro said in a televised address on Monday.

The United States has refused to speak to Maduro on anything but logistical matters, calling his leadership illegitimate. While not rejecting the talks in Oslo, the United States stood firm in its stance.

“We note the talks in Norway. As we have repeatedly stated, the United States believes the only thing to negotiate with Nicolas Maduro is the conditions of his departure,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus told reporters in Washington.

“While previous efforts to negotiate have failed because the regime has used them to divide the opposition and gain time, we hope that the talks in Oslo will focus on the departure of Maduro as a pre-condition for progress.”

In a symbolic rejection of Maduro, whose government is still recognized by the United Nations, the United States walked out of the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva as Venezuela assumed the UN body's rotating presidency.

“Whatever is discussed in there, whatever is decided, has absolutely no legitimacy because it is an illegitimate regime presiding over that body,” the US ambassador to the conference, Robert Wood, told reporters outside the council's chamber.

ALnavio, a Madrid-based newspaper that covers Latin American affairs, said the main issue in Oslo was the question of staging “free and fair” elections as demanded by Guaido, who leads the elected National Assembly shunned by Maduro.

The opposition leader defended the decision to send representatives to Oslo as he addressed supporters on Sunday in Venezuela's Lara state, saying that “we have to play on all the boards.”

But he said his demands had not changed. “Whoever wants us to renounce the pressure in the street or in international scenarios in order to stop the takeover, becomes an accomplice of the dictatorship,” he tweeted.