Venezuela Asks Vatican Official to Witness Crisis Talks

Venezuela said Wednesday it had formally invited the Vatican's secretary of state to be a "good faith witness" to talks on ending two months of deadly anti-government protests.

President Nicolas Maduro and opposition coalition representatives had agreed the night before to the talks, which are tentatively set to begin Thursday under the oversight of UNASUR, a regional South American grouping, and the Vatican.

"We want to convey the invitation of President Nicolas Maduro to His Holiness, Pope Francis," for the Vatican official, Pietro Parolin, to act "as a good faith witness," said a letter sent by Venezuela's foreign minister.

Among the conditions set by the two sides for the talks was the presence of witnesses, including Parolin, who until about six months ago was the Vatican's envoy to Venezuela.

Since early February, 39 people have died and 600 people have been wounded in clashes between security forces and protesters angered by soaring crime, high inflation and shortages of basics such as toilet paper, which they blame on Maduro's socialist government.

At least three opposition leaders have been jailed in recent weeks over the protests.

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who narrowly lost the presidency to Maduro last year, confirmed he would attend the talks.

"I say to our people: I will go tomorrow to defend the truth," said Capriles, who is the governor of the state of Miranda.

"We will tell the government the truth so the country opens its eyes, so that we understand that all this has to change."

On Tuesday, Maduro had held preliminary talks with the opposition coalition Democratic Unity Roundtable, or MUD by its initials in Spanish.

The agreed to dialogue would be unprecedented under Maduro, who succeeded Hugo Chavez last year following the longtime leader's death from cancer.