Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who wishes to lift sanctions against his country, announced on Thursday that he is "ready to go to Mexico" to negotiate with the opposition. The president stated in a national television broadcast, "We are ready to go to Mexico. We are ready to sit down with a realistic, purposeful, and authentic Venezuelan agenda to address the issues that need to be addressed to reach partial agreements on peace and sovereignty and to lift the criminal sanctions imposed on Venezuela."
The Venezuelan president has previously expressed his willingness to engage in dialogue with the opposition led by Juan Guaidó, who does not recognize Maduro as president, claiming that his re-election in 2018 was marked by fraud. The opposition boycotted the elections in which Maduro won in 2018, and the international community did not recognize the results. The president faced massive demonstrations in his country, especially in 2017. Washington imposed economic sanctions on Caracas in an attempt to oust Maduro from power, and the latter regularly accuses the United States of attempting to destabilize his country.
Washington and around 50 other countries consider Guaidó as the interim president, though he holds no official powers. A date for the negotiations has yet to be established, but one of the main topics will likely be whether the opposition will participate in the local and regional elections scheduled for November 21. According to several observers, these elections could present an opportunity to begin resolving the crisis.
