Venezuela govt, opposition hold US-backed talks on democratic transition (opens in new tab)

The meeting between National Assembly chief Jorge Rodriguez and former opposition lawmaker Dinorah Figuera -- who returned to Caracas on Thursday after eight years of exile -- "is a first step in what will be a thoughtful process to secure a free and open Venezuelan society," State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement. A doctor by training who became president of the National Assembly in 2015, Figuera, 65, went into exile in 2018, fleeing after receiving "threats and harassme...