Overview
- On Thursday, Jorge Rodríguez and Dinorah Figuera met in Caracas and agreed to create a parity "mesa técnica y política" with a concrete agenda and timelines, a step the U.S. State Department publicly welcomed.
- The agreed agenda centers on institutional fixes, including reconstructing the National Electoral Council, restoring party participation guarantees, and protecting civil liberties needed for open politics.
- Figuera returned from years in exile for the talks, met U.S. chargé d’affaires John Barrett, traveled in U.S. embassy vehicles, and still faces past Venezuelan arrest warrants that drove her into exile.
- Key opposition figures and blocs, most notably María Corina Machado and parts of the Plataforma Unitaria, were not part of the meeting, exposing new fractures over who represents the opposition in negotiations.
- The talks are at an early operational stage with no public election timetable and unresolved legal and constitutional hurdles, so observers should watch whether the process broadens participation and produces a firm calendar.