Venezuelan government, opposition delegation begin talks

Aug 6 (Reuters) - U.S.-backed ‌negotiations between ​Venezuela's ​interim government and a faction of the opposition began on Thursday afternoon, the two ‌sides said, after nearly a week of delays.

The ⁠talks are aimed at remaking the country's political system ahead of ‌eventual elections.

• Jorge Rodriguez, ‌brother of interim President Delcy Rodriguez, is leading the government delegation. He is also head of ​the National Assembly and a longtime negotiator at previous talks with the U.S. and the opposition.

• ⁠His counterpart Dinorah Figuera is the head of an opposition-dominated National Assembly ​cohort elected in 2015 which is still recognized by the U.S. as the country's ​last democratically elected legislature.

• "Today we ‌launched the process that will chart the path toward democracy and the re-institutionalization ⁠of Venezuela," Figuera said in a post on X.

• The first round of talks will go through August 12, ⁠when the parties will decide whether to continue, both sides ​said.

• The State Department also hailed the effort at starting negotiations.

• To the chagrin of some Venezuela observers, Nobel Peace ‌Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, the country's most popular opposition figure, is not ‌participating in the talks.

• Machado has said she will ⁠not stand in ‌the way of progress ​at the negotiations.

(Reporting by Julia Symmes Cobb, Editing by Daina Beth Solomon and Chris ‌Reese)

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