Vatican open to facilitate talks to end crisis

CARACAS (AP):

The Vatican says it is willing to help facilitate talks between Venezuela's government and its opponents aimed at ending weeks of deadly unrest that has paralysed much of the country.

President Nicolas Maduro last Thursday said he was willing to sit down with the opposition under the watch of an outside observer. He floated the name of Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who served as the Holy See's ambassador to Venezuela before being called to Rome last year.

Willing to do whatever possible

The Vatican spokesman, the Reverend Federico Lombardi, told The Associated Press, the Holy See and Parolin were "certainly willing and desirous to do whatever is possible for the good and serenity of the country".

He said Parolin, in particular, "knows and loves" Venezuela. But he added that the Vatican needed to understand the expectati\ons of its intervention and whether it could bring about a "desired outcome". Such a study is under way, he added.

Catholicism is a touchstone for critics of Maduro's socialist administration, and opposition leaders Leopoldo Lopez and Henrique Capriles, both known to sport rosaries, have been pressing the Vatican to take up the cause. Maduro also heaped praise on Pope Francis after meeting with the first Latin American pontiff last year.

Although the church may be an acceptable go-between, the road to compromise in this deeply polarised nation is a long one. Hardliners on both sides continue to reject compromise even with at least 32 people killed and hundreds more injured, many of them during clashes between protesters and security forces sometimes joined by pro-government militias.

As soon as Maduro agreed last Thursday to talks with the help of an outside facilitator, several of the parties forming the opposition Democratic Unity alliance questioned the proposal, saying it could dampen the protest movement's momentum.

Maduro has also expressed scepticism about his opponents' motives, pointing to much of the opposition's refusal to take part in earlier "peace conferences" proposed by his administration.