Venezuela Said to Free Opposition Leader to Attend Talks

(Bloomberg) -- Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro is expected to release Freddy Guevara, an opposition leader who had been jailed for more than a month, so that he can act as a negotiator in political talks set to start next month.

Guevara, a top ally of Juan Guaido, will be freed from the Caracas headquarters of the police intelligence unit known as Sebin, according to five sources with direct knowledge of the government’s decision. Guevara, 35, will be allowed to return home and is expected to represent Guaido when representatives from the government and opposition gather in Mexico City in the coming weeks.

In Mexico, Guevara may replace Carlos Vecchio, Guaido’s ambassador in the U.S. Maduro’s negotiators had objected to Vecchio’s presence when the two sides met on Friday to sign a memorandum of understanding to set up the negotiations. They demanded he resign his post as ambassador if he continued as a negotiator, a condition the opposition ultimately refused.

The release of Guevara is seen as a concession by Maduro as the talks are set to get underway. The next meetings in the wide-ranging talks aimed at ending a five-year political stalemate will take place from Sept. 3 to 6, according to a statement from the Norway Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is facilitating the negotiations.

Guevara, 35, a former vice president of the opposition-led National Assembly, was arrested in July. The government accused him of working with criminal gangs to organize a deadly three-day standoff with security forces at a slum in western Caracas. The Public Prosecutor’s office accused him of being associated with “extremist and paramilitary” groups linked to the Colombian government.

Guevara’s attorneys, who denied the accusations, said this month that neither they nor his family have been able to visit him in prison, and expressed concern for his health.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.