Members of Venezuela’s interim government met opposition representatives on Thursday to discuss a “roadmap for a dialogue on a democratic transition,” according to the US State Department.
The meeting brought together National Assembly chief Jorge Rodríguez and former opposition lawmaker Dinorah Figuera, who returned to Caracas on Thursday after eight years in exile. The US State Department described the engagement as an initial step toward building a “free and open Venezuelan society,” spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement.
Figuera, a doctor by training who became president of the National Assembly in 2015, went into exile in 2018 after receiving what she described as threats and harassment linked to her role as spokesperson for Justice First party member Fernando Albán, who died in prison in October that year.
She returned this week after eight years abroad.
Figuera, aged 65, told reporters at the airport that she was responding to an invitation from the US State Department to take on the challenge of helping establish a credible National Electoral Council. She also said the process required addressing key reforms in Venezuela’s political system.
Upon her return, she distanced herself from opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado, who has also launched a separate initiative for a democratic transition.
The National Assembly later confirmed that Figuera met Jorge Rodríguez, who is the brother of interim President Delcy Rodríguez. The meeting took place in her capacity as representative of opposition lawmakers from the 2015–2020 term.
The US embassy in Caracas said Figuera had met a State Department official in April to discuss “ways toward a stable, orderly and consolidated democratic transition.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier said Washington wants Venezuela to move toward a new electoral committee and hold “free and fair multi-party elections,” calling this the future direction of the country’s political process.
