Venezuela's acting government and a section of the country's opposition concluded the first round of negotiations in Caracas on Wednesday with two landmark agreements: a full restart of the process to renew the Supreme Court of Justice, and a joint effort to recover 31 tonnes of Venezuelan gold held at the Bank of England. The talks, the eighteenth attempt at dialogue in two decades and the first held on Venezuelan soil, saw National Assembly president Jorge Rodríguez and opposition representative Dinorah Figuera sign a joint communiqué after more than six hours of deliberations at a Caracas hotel.
On the judicial front, the parties agreed to scrap a Supreme Court renewal process that had begun in May — following a reform that expanded the court from 20 to 32 members — and instead amend the court's organic law afresh, reconstitute the judicial nominations committee, and establish a council to vet candidates' credentials. The court drew widespread criticism in 2024 when it upheld Nicolás Maduro's re-election despite fraud allegations and without publishing disaggregated results. Analysts caution that the real test will be in implementation: whether the process produces judges genuinely independent of both the government and the opposition remains to be seen. A former political prisoner and ex-assembly member, Américo de Grazia, who spent over a year in Caracas's El Helicoide detention facility, welcomed the announcement but expressed scepticism about underlying motives, warning that the negotiations risk advancing the agendas of both the Rodríguez administration and Washington rather than ordinary Venezuelans.
On the economic front, both delegations committed to jointly pursuing the release of gold reserves — worth approximately four billion dollars — that have been frozen at the Bank of England since 2019, when London recognised opposition figure Juan Guaidó as interim president and effectively blocked Caracas's access to the funds. The government of acting president Delcy Rodríguez recently wrote to King Charles III requesting their return. The agreement stipulates that any recovered funds would be directed toward rebuilding efforts following a devastating double earthquake on 24 June that killed more than 6,300 people, with transparency and audit mechanisms built into the arrangement. Whether British courts will ultimately release the assets remains uncertain.
The agreements, however, leave critical issues unaddressed. The joint communiqué makes no mention of reforming the National Electoral Council — which the opposition considers a prerequisite for any credible electoral timetable — nor does it address the release of political prisoners, estimated by the human rights organisation Foro Penal to number at least 391. Trade unionists gathered outside the hotel to demand progress on both fronts, while a group of 84 former political prisoners issued a statement backing the process but calling for an independent judiciary and electoral authority. Civil society voices also highlighted the gulf between the negotiating agenda and the daily hardships facing Venezuelans, including rampant inflation, repeated water and electricity outages, and wages that in some cases amount to less than one dollar a month.
The process carries the backing of the United States and was held without the participation of opposition leader María Corina Machado — a Nobel Peace Prize laureate now in exile in Panama — who was not invited to the table but has said she will not obstruct it. Two technical working groups have been established, one on earthquake relief and one on democratic reform. The delegations are due to reconvene in mid-September.