Sawt Falasteen - Venezuela govt, opposition hold US-backed talks on democratic transition

The meeting between National Assembly chief Jorge Rodriguez and former opposition lawmaker Dinorah Figuera -- who returned to Caracas on Thursday after eight years of exile -- "is a first step in what will be a thoughtful process to secure a free and open Venezuelan society," State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement.

A doctor by training who became president of the National Assembly in 2015, Figuera, 65, went into exile in 2018, fleeing after receiving "threats and harassment" for serving as the spokesperson for her fellow Justice First party member Fernando Alban, who died in prison that October.

President Nicolas Maduro was captured in January during a US military raid and arrested on drug trafficking charges, and the Venezuelan government has since been led by his vice president Delcy Rodriguez on an interim basis.

Upon her return in Venezuela, Figuera sought to distance herself from opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado, who has recently launched her own initiative to negotiate a Venezuelan democratic transition.

"At this time, I am responding to an invitation from the State Department to assume all of these challenges... in terms of having a credible National Electoral Council," Figuera told reporters upon her arrival at the airport.

The National Assembly later confirmed Figuera's meeting with Jorge Rodriguez -- who is the interim president's brother -- "in her capacity of representing opposition lawmakers from the 2015-2020 term."

The US embassy in Caracas issued a statement that Figuera had met in April with a State Department official "to discuss the ways toward a stable, orderly and consolidated democratic transition."

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this month addressed Washington's desire for Venezuelan elections, telling reporters: "Clearly we need to have a new electoral committee, and ultimately, Venezuela's future is free and fair multi-party elections."

N.Awad--SF-PST