Merkel to meet with Venezuela opposition leaders in Berlin

BERLIN – Angela Merkel’s office says the German chancellor will meet with Venezuela opposition leaders to express her concerns about the “troubling human rights situation” there.

Merkel’s office said Tuesday it was with “great regret” that the Wednesday meeting with Julio Borges, president of the National Assembly, and Freddy Guevara, the legislature’s first vice-president, will take place without human rights activist Lilian Tintori.

Tintori was barred by the government from leaving Venezuela to meet Merkel and other European leaders.

Merkel’s office says the German government has “repeatedly criticized the systematic elimination of fundamental democratic and legal standards” by President Nicolas Maduro’s government in Venezuela.

Germany “calls on the Maduro government to return to the negotiating table with the opposition,” and urged peaceful negotiations as the only way out of the crisis.