[BBC] – Five Venezuelan opposition politicians were freed from detention on Monday, a day after the government and the opposition held talks on how to end the country’s political crisis.
The opposition had called for the release of what it says are “political prisoners”. The five had been held on charges ranging from allegedly carrying an explosive device to “harming armed forces’ morale”.
They had denied any wrongdoing. For months, the opposition has been calling for a recall referendum on whether President Nicolas Maduro should stay in power over Venezuela’s worsening economic crisis. The five men released on Monday were: Avanzada Progresista (Progressive Advance) party leader Carlos Melo, opposition political advisers Andres Moreno and Marco Trejo, student leader Andres Leon, and Angel Coromoto Rodriguez, who was the security chief for National Assembly leader Henry Ramos Allup.
Their release came just hours after the first face-to-face meeting between President Maduro and opposition leaders this year. The meeting was mediated by a Vatican envoy and former leaders of Spain, Panama and the Dominican Republic.
Opposition leaders had demanded that the government give them tangible “signs of goodwill” or risk a walk-out. Asked if the release was such a sign of goodwill, Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez told news agency Efe “yes”.
She also said that Sunday’s talks had been “constructive” and “respectful”. Opposition leader Jesus Torrealba on the other hand had described the meeting as “arduous, intense and brusque”.
The two sides agreed to form four working groups to discuss broad topics such as confidence-building measures and strategies to ease Venezuela’s dire economic crisis. The next meeting of all participants is planned for 11 November.
The opposition has said it will nevertheless go ahead with a planned protest march on 3 November. The march is to demand that a recall referendum aimed at ousting President Maduro be allowed to proceed.
The process was halted by the electoral authorities which said that a signature drive to call for the referendum had been marred by fraud. The opposition accuses the National Electoral Council of colluding with the government to scupper their attempts at removing President Maduro from office.
Venezuela is suffering from a severe economic crisis which has further deepened long-standing political divisions. Each side blames the other for the spiralling inflation and shortages of basic goods.
