Paraguay will be the third guarantor of Venezuelan opposition

Venezuelan opposition chose Paraguay as its third guarantor in an exploratory dialogue with the government, confirmed Deputy Luis Florido, delegate to those contacts.

"We define that our third country will be Paraguay because of its positions for political change and democracy in Venezuela," Florido told a news conference.

The coalition Mesa de la Unidad Democrática (MUD), which brings together some thirty parties, had already selected Mexico and Chile as chaperones. The government, for its part, called its allies Nicaragua and Bolivia. "We need to select their third country, we wait for them," said Florido, recalling that the next appointment will be on September 27 in the Dominican Republic.

Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes is a harsh critic of the government of Nicolás Maduro, who accuses him of being part of an alliance with Argentina and Brazil to destabilize him. Last Tuesday, Dominican President Danilo Medina and former head of the Spanish government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, invited the Maduro government and MUD to explore a possible negotiation that would end the serious political crisis.

In the framework of these approaches, which are supported by United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the parties took the first steps to define an agenda between Wednesday and Thursday.

"We are in a process of exploration because of the distrust that exists with the government that uses these elements as propaganda." The meetings are exploratory, warned Florido.

This Friday, Maduro said that an agreement is near. "We have succeeded in re-establishing a necessary dialogue for peace." Opposition demands for negotiation include a guarantee that presidential elections will take place by the end of 2018, as mandated by law, and the appointment of new officials of the National Electoral Council (CNE), accused of serving the government.

It also calls for the release of political prisoners - some 600 - restitution of functions to the opposition majority parliament and attention to the "humanitarian emergency" due to the shortage of medicines and an inflation that according to the IMF will close this year at 720%.