Photo Credit: Rayma Auprani, CagleCartoons.com
Today, Venezuelan government officials and members of the opposition will meet in the Dominican Republic, yet again, for another attempt at dialogue aimed at resolving the current political crisis in the country. This is the fourth time the opposition has tried to sit down with the Maduro regime in the Dominican Republic.But how many failed attempts at dialogue will it take for mediators and other outside parties to realize that unless they impose real costs on the government, the Maduro regime won’t change. The outcome appears to be the same after every dialogue, with the opposition accusing Maduro of exploiting the talks to buy time and Maduro saying all the opposition wants is violence.
It’s time to demand a reset of mediation efforts and impose real consequences on the government for their actions. Latin American countries meed to demand as a basic condition that the Maduro regime respect human rights and release political political prisoners and establish a timetable in which those demands must be met. And if the government fails to meet them, the regional communities must be ready to impose sanctions and/or withdraw their ambassadors. Until then, we join the majority of Venezuelans who fail to see any major breakthrough coming out this time.
