- It is about trying to get out of the lock where the government and the opposition have such conflicting interests, says SVT's Latin American correspondent Tigran Feiler.

The opposition demands reforms in the electoral system, which is considered to be entirely in the hands of Maduro's Socialist Party, in order to bring about truly free elections.

From the government's side, it is about getting the outside world, mainly the United States, to lift the economic sanctions against the country.

Economy in free fall

Venezuela is in deepest crisis.

The economy in what could be one of Latin America's richest countries has shrunk by more than 80 percent since 2013 when socialist leader Hugo Chávez died and Nicolás Maduro, who lacked the popular support of the representative, took power.

According to Tigran Feiler, the economic crisis is due to corruption, mismanagement of the economy and dependence on oil exports.

Revenue that disappeared when sanctions were imposed on the country's regime due to the lack of democracy and human rights.

Previous negotiations have broken down, but in May the opposition changed strategy and said it was ready to hold new talks to resolve the political crisis in the country.

In June, the United States, Canada and the EU stated that they were willing to reconsider sanctions against the unpopular Maduro government if a dialogue with the opposition led to significant progress towards free and fair elections.

The opposition is divided

The negotiations in Mexico take place under Norwegian mediation.

According to Tigran Feiler, one difficulty is that the opposition is divided.

The alliance behind Juan Guaidó, which large parts of the world proclaimed the country's legitimate president after the 2018 election, is a thing of the past.

- The Venezuelans I spoke to are quite resigned and have no great hopes.

"We've seen this before," they say.

An acquaintance cynically stated that the government's negotiators are probably happy to go to Mexico to have a little holiday in a nice country with good food.

In addition to poverty, Venezuela is plagued by widespread crime that makes it one of the most dangerous in the world.

12,000 people were killed by violence in 2020, according to national statistics.

According to the UNHCR, more than five million people have fled the country since 2014, mainly to neighboring countries in South America.