Negotiations for Venezuela’s November 2021 regional elections, which are being brokered by Norway, kicked off this week in Mexico. The talks between the authoritarian regime of Nicolas Maduro and opposition leaders aim to establish a memorandum of understanding for further detailed discussion in September 2021. The goal of the talks is to ultimately establish the terms for holding the November regional elections for governors and mayors. It is also hoped that if an acceptable agreement can be achieved it will bring the opposition boycotts of Venezuela’s elections, which have occurred for the last five years, to an end. Since being elected Venezuela’s president in April 2013, Maduro has actively and violently suppressed democracy, human rights, and opposition to his regime. Last December he was finally able to remove the U.S.-recognized interim president Juan Guaido from the National Assembly where he had been the law-making bodies leader. That significantly undermined […]