Caracas: Venezuela's government and opposition leaders will meet on Sunday in a bid to open a dialogue about the country's deepening political crisis, both sides announced.
An agreement to hold talks was reached Saturday at a regional summit in Cartagena, Colombia. A representative from the Vatican will also take part, officials said.
"A process of dialogue is being established with opposition groups," Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said in a speech during the Ibero-American Summit in Cartagena on Saturday.
Opposition leader Jesus Torrealba of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) coalition group said late Saturday that although the dissident coalition agreed to take part in the talks, it did so with feelings of "skepticism and distrust."
The talks were scheduled amid heightened political turmoil in Venezuela, where opposition leaders have vowed to try to hold a legislative trial to remove President Nicolas Maduro from power.
Venezuela is suffering a deep economic crisis — despite boasting the world's largest oil reserves — because of falling crude prices.
The economic upheaval has fed social and political unrest, and dissidents have vowed to topple Maduro, the hand-picked successor of late socialist president Hugo Chavez. Maduro for his part has threatened to jail his political enemies, while street riots rage and food shortages persist. Rodriguez said Sunday's meeting aims to end "anti-constitutional, anti-democratic" actions by Venezuela's dissidents.
Meanwhile, the MUD in a statement reiterated its demands that the government respect the constitutional right to a referendum on removing Maduro from office, and that it free imprisoned activists.
It was not immediately clear where today's talks would take place.
Opposition leaders have rejected the proposed location of Isla Margarita, a Venezuelan island in the Caribbean Sea, and insists they be held in Caracas.
Dissident leaders on Friday held a partially-observed strike in Venezuela, and recent days have seen fierce clashes involving riot police and pro- and anti-government activists.
Protests earlier in the week drew hundreds of thousands, and the opposition threatened to stage another demonstration this week at the presidential palace.
Maduro last week tried to mollify struggling workers by offering a 40 per cent increase in the minimum wage, equivalent to about $140 (127 euros) a month.
However, economic analysts said the pay raise would do little good in a country where the International Monetary Fund estimates inflation this year will hit 475 per cent.
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