Government and opposition talks under close US watch, still without Machado, reach their Wednesday decision point on whether to continue; separately, Caracas and Israel announced on Tuesday that they had restored consular ties severed in 2009.
The topic covers efforts, backed by the United States, to negotiate a democratic transition in Venezuela. They set Venezuela's government against an opposition movement with its own recognised leader. The talks are not public, and reporting on them so far rests on the Wall Street Journal.
Israel and Venezuela announced on Tuesday that they had renewed consular relations, 17 years after diplomatic ties were severed in 2009. The Jerusalem Post reports that the step creates an official channel of coordination and follows an Israeli aid and rescue mission after the earthquake in Colombia.
Venezuela's government and the opposition launched negotiations last week aimed at paving the way for elections, according to El País. The Spanish daily reports that the talks are taking place under close watch from Washington.
Bloomberg reports that the Trump administration has increased pressure on trader Harry Sargeant to give up his Venezuelan business, while acting president Delcy Rodríguez appointed Juan Crisóstomo Fernández to head the state electricity corporation Corpoelec. The family of judge María Lourdes Afiuni, jailed for almost a decade under Hugo Chávez, said the courts had definitively closed the case against her.
Representatives of the Venezuelan government and the opposition held their first meeting under US supervision, El País reported. The parties said they would remain in continuous working sessions until Wednesday, when they will decide whether to continue the talks; opposition leader María Corina Machado was left out.
Talks between Venezuela's power holders and the opposition have begun under Washington's mediation, seven months after the United States captured President Nicolas Maduro. Le Monde reports the discussions could lead to a political transition and elections, and that they are taking place without the leader of the Venezuelan opposition.
Representatives of Venezuela's government and part of the opposition are due to meet in the coming week for talks on a transition, backed by Washington. In a message from prison in New York published on Sunday, deposed former leader Nicolás Maduro welcomed 'any path to dialogue'.
Democracy talks backed by the United States have sidelined Venezuela's opposition leader, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. No details on the format of the talks or the participants were given in the report.