US-Backed Venezuela Dialogue Launches With Rodríguez-Figuera Phone Call

Venezuela's Chavista-controlled National Assembly and a bloc of former opposition lawmakers led by Dinorah Figuera launched a US-brokered 'institutional dialogue' on August 1, 2026, opening with a phone call between government coordinator Jorge Rodríguez (brother of acting president Delcy Rodríguez) and Figuera, who returned from eight years of exile in June 2026 at the US State Department's request to lead the talks. The agreed agenda covers response to the June 24, 2026 twin earthquakes, rebuilding democratic institutions including the National Electoral Council and Supreme Court, and political and civil rights guarantees. Exiled opposition leader and Nobel laureate María Corina Machado was not invited and said she would not participate, citing concerns over the process's speed, transparency, and lack of concrete steps such as freeing political prisoners.