Venezuelan opposition to meet foes: Update

Adds Venezuela, US government remarks.

Venezuela´s political opposition will meet with a delegation from the government of President Nicolas Maduro in Barbados this week in an effort to negotiate a resolution to the protracted conflict.

Juan Guaido, president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly and self-declared acting president of Venezuela, confirmed the planned talks, which will be mediated by the Norwegian government.

In a statement today Venezuela´s foreign ministry said government representatives arrived in Barbados this morning. At the same time the ministry condemned Guaido for "violence, insult, lack of constitutionality and bipolar rhetoric" that it said are inconsistent with the framework for dialogue agreed by the parties on 25 May, reiterating a call for a "permanent table of dialogue for peace."

A first round of negotiations in Oslo in early May collapsed shortly after they began.

In anticipation of the talks on the Caribbean island, Guaido was to meet privately with Spanish-Uruguayan economist Enrique Iglesias, who was appointed special adviser for Venezuela in late May by EU high representative/vice-president Federica Mogherini.

Venezuela´s executive vice president Delcy Rodriguez met with Iglesias this morning.

Guaido is under pressure to show progress in the face of flagging popular support, especially in the aftermath of a failed 30 April military uprising that was supposed to force Maduro out of power."We do not have unlimited time, every day that passes the situation gets worse," Guaido said yesterday. He referred to a UN report last week that painted a dark picture of human rights in Venezuela.

The negotiations appear to pose more risks for the US-backed opposition than for Maduro. Guaido and his supporters had rejected dialogue on the basis of previous failed talks that were perceived as a pretext for Maduro to remain in power. But six months into his campaign to unseat Maduro, install a transition government and convene free elections, and with little hope of a US-led military intervention, Guaido has ceded to an EU-led initiative to re-engage with his foe.

The US supports "all efforts to restore democracy and alleviate the suffering of the Venezuelan people and the burden of the crisis on the region," the State Department said today. But it warned of "courses of action that leave corrupt and non-democratic actors in power or buy time for the Maduro regime to further consolidate its hold on the country."

"Any discussion of a transition must include Maduro's departure as a precondition for elections," the State Department said.

The new round of talks comes on the eve of a further tightening of US oil sanctions. On 27 July, US major Chevron, one of Venezuela national oil company PdV´s main partners, will need to withdraw from the country unless it secures a waiver from the US Treasury to stay.

PdV´s own operations continue to deteriorate. Over the weekend a blackout shut down the company´s main refining complex which was already operating at very low levels because of equipment breakdowns and a shortage of feedstock.