Venezuelan Government and Opposition End Talks With No Deal

Venezuela’s government and the opposition ended a round of negotiations on Wednesday night with no agreement, a setback for those bidding to unseat President Nicolás Maduro, who have seen their options narrow.

Few had expected the talks, held in Norway this month, to break through the political turmoil that has gripped Venezuela since January.

But the negotiations marked a change in strategy by the opposition leader, Juan Guaidó. He had resisted such talks in the past, instead calling for Mr. Maduro’s immediate resignation — even urging the military to depose him.

While the opposition said it was open to more talks in the future, it signaled that it would now turn back to its original approach, issuing a statement that called again for Mr. Maduro’s ouster, along with “a transitional government and free elections as the means to solve the tragedy from which Venezuela is suffering.”

Venezuela’s government also said it was open to another round of talks, without specifying when that might be.

Jorge Rodríguez, the communications minister who represented the government in the negotiations, said that Mr. Maduro would continue “working for peace, harmony, democracy and the defense of the Constitution.”

The standoff began in January when Mr. Maduro was sworn in as president for a six-year term after an election in 2018 that many countries saw as rigged. Mr. Guaidó, in front of crowds gathered in Caracas, the capital, declared himself the country’s legitimate president later that month.

Mr. Guaidó has won the backing of more than 50 nations, including the United States, and Mr. Maduro’s government has faced harsh sanctions amid a wider economic collapse.

Still, Mr. Guaidó’s movement has appeared to lose momentum at home in recent weeks.

In April, Mr. Guaidó made an unsuccessful bid to unseat Mr. Maduro by force when he appeared in a video flanked by national guardsmen who had defected from the government, calling on the rest of the armed forces to join him.

Few responded to his call, and Mr. Maduro’s grip on power held.