Maduro: Opposition must break with conspiracy

President Maduro said yesterday that he is willing to hold talks with the opposition, but that first the opposition must “break its ties” with the “North-American Imperialist conspiracy.”

“If only they were to renounce to the ties and dependency that links them to the North-American Imperialist conspiracy against the country, if they could quit their conspiracy plans to overthrow the government and sabotage the economy, I tell them from the bottom of my heart, as chavista President, that the situation would be different [otro gallo cantaría], and that we could talk one and a million times about the problems of the country. We could debate beyond our differences. We could even reach a level of respect and coexistence for the good of the country,” Maduro declared.

He insisted two more time that the precondition for talks would be that the opposition breaks its alleged ties with the Empire: “I demand in the name of peace and the future of this country, that those groups of the opposition definitely break their ties of dependency with the gringos. Venezuela is not the United States. This is a free country, and it must continue being a free country.” And added: “I tell them [opposition], is it possible for you to break your ties of dependency with the gringos and sit with us at a nationalist roundtable to talk about the country? Is that a possibility?”