Venezuela Interim Government and Opposition Reach Key Deal After Months of Negotiations

More than seven months after U.S. forces seized Nicolás Maduro from power, Venezuela's interim government and a faction of the opposition have agreed on two key points.

The agreement was reached during six hours of closed-door negotiating in Caracas on August 12, 2026. The first point scraps a National Assembly process that would have expanded the Supreme Tribunal of Justice from 20 to 32 justices. Instead, both sides committed to amending the court's organic law, expanding the judicial nominations committee, launching a fresh nomination process for every magistrate seat, and standing up a new constitutionally grounded council to vet candidates.

The second commitment is financial: government and opposition negotiators agreed to jointly press for the release of Venezuela's gold reserves held at the Bank of England. Any recovered funds would be directed toward rebuilding after June's twin earthquakes, which have left roughly 18,000 people homeless with a death toll that still climbs.

This marks the first time both sides have signed an agreement in over a decade of stop-and-start talks. The U.S. government has been directly involved for the first time, and opposition leader Dinorah Figuera has framed this as the start of a broader transformation of Venezuela's justice system.