play Live Sign upShow navigation menuplay Live Click here to searchsearchSign upA new chapter? Venezuela's government holds talks with oppositionThis week, the government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez met with part of Venezuela's opposition. Will the result be a win-win situation?
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoCaracas, Venezuela – Nieves Jose Benitez earns just $0.17 a month as a high-school teacher in Venezuela's Delta Amacuro state. It’s not enough to cover a single bus fare to work.
At 72, he had hoped to retire by now. But there are few qualified teachers left where he lives. Delta Amacuro, on the eastern border with Guyana, is one of Venezuela’s most remote regions. Many experienced professionals have migrated away.
Benitez relies on odd jobs or hunting animals to put food on the table, as well as money sent from relatives abroad.
But this week, he was in the country’s capital, Caracas, to demand change. Along with dozens of other workers and pensioners, he marched towards the Gran Melia, a towering five-star hotel encircled by riot police where a historic meeting was under way.
For six days, Venezuela's government held an inaugural round of talks with the country's opposition to discuss reforms. The meeting concluded on Wednesday.
It was the first time the two sides had met since the United States abducted and imprisoned former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who had led a crackdown on dissident voices.
Benitez was optimistic about the outcome. He hopes the two sides can implement measures to increase salaries and eventually elect a new government.
"There's nothing better than dialogue. We have to find solutions," he said.
"But we also have to be constantly vigilant. Because the government wants to do whatever it pleases. That's why we're out in the streets, because we want solutions now and we want change."
Nieves Jose Benitez, a school teacher, hopes the talks between the government and opposition will bring meaningful change to Venezuela [Catherine Ellis/Al Jazeera]Nieves Jose Benitez, a school teacher, hopes the talks between the government and opposition will bring meaningful change to Venezuela [Catherine Ellis/Al Jazeera]A surprising startThe talks concluded with two main areas of agreement. The first was that both sides would seek a way to unlock Venezuelan assets frozen abroad, to help fund the country's recovery after the June 24 earthquakes.
The second was more politically sensitive. The two sides agreed to overhaul the country's judiciary, which has long been closely aligned with Venezuela's socialist government.
For Carmen Beatriz Fernandez, a Venezuelan political analyst, the scale of the proposed judicial changes was unexpected.
"Even in the best-case scenario, I did not imagine there would be a change of this magnitude," she said.
The Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ), the country's highest court, was among the judicial bodies facing drastic reform.
The agreement would see all of the court’s magistrates replaced, and an independent body would be charged with assessing candidates for new positions.
The independence of the TSJ has long fallen under scrutiny. In 2024, for instance, the court backed Maduro's claims to a third straight victory in Venezuela's presidential elections, despite evidence showing an opposition win.
Fernandez said ensuring the court’s independence will be central to any lasting democratic change in the country.
"It is even more important in the long term than electoral reforms. Because if you don't have a change in the TSJ, electoral reforms could be reversed."
A woman holds a sign that calls for free and transparent elections in Venezuela outside the hotel where negotiations are unfolding [Catherine Ellis/Al Jazeera]A woman holds a sign that calls for free and transparent elections in Venezuela outside the hotel where negotiations took place [Catherine Ellis/Al Jazeera]A dialogue with a differenceWhile this week's meeting was the first since Maduro's January 3 abduction, there have been past attempts to heal the rift between Venezuela's government and its opposition parties.
Since the late socialist leader Hugo Chavez took office as president in 1999, Venezuela has been led by members of his "chavista" movement, including Maduro, his hand-picked successor.
But over the following decades, the chavista government has faced accusations that it consolidated power while violently suppressing dissenting voices.
There have been at least 17 previous attempts to hold dialogue between the chavista government and its opponents.
While some meetings produced limited results, including the release of political prisoners and humanitarian measures, there has been no lasting settlement so far.
Fernandez noted that international mediators, including the Vatican and Norway, either facilitated or encouraged the previous attempts.
This time was different, though, because of the US's participation in the talks.
Since Maduro's removal, the US has taken an active role in Venezuelan politics. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently described the talks as the beginning of a “transition process" to rebuild Venezuela's democracy.
President Donald Trump, however, has tempered expectations by saying Venezuela is "not ready yet" for elections. He has thrown his support behind acting President Delcy Rodriguez, a chavista who was sworn in after the US military operation to remove Maduro.
Fernandez said that, while Washington describes itself as a facilitator, its role is backed by the threat of further force, giving it far greater leverage than previous international mediators.
"Now, we are not dealing with soft power. We are dealing with hard power, and the role the United States is playing is a hard-power role, a role based on force," she said.
Protesters outside the government-opposition talks in Caracas call for better wages and pensions [Catherine Ellis/Al Jazeera]Protesters outside the government-opposition talks in Caracas call for better wages and pensions [Catherine Ellis/Al Jazeera]An absent playerAt the talks, the government delegation was led by National Assembly president Jorge Rodriguez, the president's brother.
Dinorah Figuera, the head of the 2015 National Assembly, represented the opposition. That year's legislature is widely considered the last to be democratically elected.
Notably absent, however, was Maria Corina Machado, the opposition's most prominent leader. She won the last presidential primary for the opposition, before being barred from running in the 2024 election.
Pedro Urruchurtu, one of Machado’s closest advisers, said her party supported measures that could advance democratic change. But he questioned what this week's talks would ultimately deliver.
"They will be relevant and credible to the extent that they produce real, verifiable results and to the extent that the talks are not a facade," he told Al Jazeera from exile abroad.
He called for greater transparency in the proceedings, including during follow-up talks.
"No mechanism will succeed if the people and their aspirations are not taken into account or clearly expressed in the results," he said. "Venezuela does not want any more deals made behind the back of the national interest."
While Machado’s absence from the negotiating table has drawn criticism, it has also prompted questions about her continued political relevance.
But Fernandez, the political analyst, said that staying out of the talks could work in her favour.
"If this initiative for the democratisation of the country succeeds, Maria Corina will be its main beneficiary," she said. "And if it goes badly, it wasn't her fault."
Protesters in Caracas hold up a banner that reads, 'There is no transition without the liberation of political prisoners' [Catherine Ellis/Al Jazeera]Protesters in Caracas hold up a banner that reads, 'There is no transition without the liberation of political prisoners' [Catherine Ellis/Al Jazeera]Visibility for political prisonersAs the meeting wound to a close in Caracas, opposition members took to the capital's streets to push for a timetable for new elections and the release of political prisoners.
Separately, some former prisoners met with Figuera, the opposition's representative, to advocate for dissidents who remain in detention.
Americo de Grazia, a former member of the 2015 National Assembly, was among them.
De Grazia was detained in August 2024 and spent more than a year in Caracas’s El Helicoide prison before being released last year. He said he never had access to his case file.
But he welcomed Wednesday's announcement that the government would overhaul the Supreme Tribunal of Justice.
"There is no better place to start than at the top, with the highest judicial body, in order to correct not only the situation of today's political prisoners but also address deeper problems," he told Al Jazeera.
But De Grazia remains sceptical about the intentions of those involved. He believes the negotiations will ultimately advance the agendas of the US and the Rodriguez government.
"It's not just the Rodriguez family's desire to stay in power," he said. "It's also the United States' intention to turn Venezuela into a colony. And that's something we Venezuelans need to keep in mind."
Even so, he believes the talks offer an opportunity Venezuela cannot afford to ignore.
"This is an opportunity for Venezuela to build a path that can get us out of the labyrinth we are trapped in, in a peaceful, democratic, constitutional and electoral way."
Other former political prisoners called for a greater focus on the plight of those behind bars.
Aranza Hernandez was only 19 when she was detained in November 2025 and accused of terrorism over an alleged bomb plot in Caracas. Other members of her family, including her 16-year-old sister, were also arrested.
But Hernandez and her family deny involvement in any plot. Instead, human rights groups like Amnesty International say the family was arrested as an act of retaliation.
Hernandez's brother was a military officer who fled Venezuela after being accused of involvement in an antigovernment uprising in 2019, and many advocates suspect his actions led to a crackdown on his family.
While Hernandez was released in June, her cousin and uncle remain in prison. The human rights group Foro Penal estimates that at least 391 people continue to be held as political prisoners in Venezuela.
"There is no law here, there are no rights here, there is nothing. And that's what we're demanding. The focus should be the political prisoners – and the freedom of an entire country," Hernandez said at a protest in Caracas last Friday.
She and her fellow demonstrators called for the release of political prisoners — and for the issue to be on the agenda during the negotiations.
Protesters and families of political prisoners in Venezuela demonstrated during the talks in the capital Caracas [Catherine Ellis/Al Jazeera]Protesters and families of political prisoners in Venezuela demonstrated during the talks in the capital Caracas [Catherine Ellis/Al Jazeera]Resistance and trade-offsAmong chavistas, there is also suspicion about the talks. Hugo Garcia, a member of the ruling political party, questioned why the US is playing such a large role in determining Venezuela's future.
"There are many representatives from the United States who talk about regime change, about elections, about giving their opinions, about favouring the opposition's opinion. But they have no basis," Garcia said.
"We have a constitution, and our constitution doesn't yet specify now is the time for elections."
His comments reflect a longstanding chavista view that the US is an imperialist power seeking to interfere in Venezuela’s affairs and control its resources.
But Wednesday's agreement is likely to be hailed as a strike against foreign interference, according to Fernandez, the political analyst.
She pointed out that both sides at the talks agreed to pursue the release of 31 tonnes of Venezuelan gold, worth roughly $4bn, held at the Bank of England.
The funds were frozen in 2019, after the United Kingdom refused to recognise Maduro as Venezuela's legitimate president.
"The interim government will say that this is its achievement, and it will also present it internally as an early victory for its supporters," Fernandez said.
The results of the inaugural talks are likely to be seen as a trade-off, according to Fernandez. The chavista government can point to the gold as a win for its side, while the opposition can celebrate the overhaul of Venezuela's court system.
But, Fernandez added, the reform of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice is the bigger accomplishment.
"If you put the two things on a scale — where on one side you have the gold, and on the other you have a democratic TSJ — without a doubt the greater asset is the TSJ," she said.
But Fernandez warned there is still a long way to go. This week's talks are the first in what could be months of negotiations, leading to the possibility of further changes — ultimately, the potential for new elections and a new president.
