Caracas, March 28 (RHC) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has announced his government will participate in proposed talks with the right-wing opposition in the presence of an outside facilitator after weeks of violent unrest in the country.

The announcement was made on Thursday after two days of talks between foreign ministers of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), government officials, human rights groups and opposition protesters.

Maduro said he would look forward to having UNASUR elect a “group of foreign ministers that could be witnesses and sit down” and talk with the opposition. He added that he was open to international observers.  The Venezuelan president added that he would neither set nor accept any “preconditions.”

This comes as the head of Venezuela’s Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) voiced his group’s readiness for talks with the government on Wednesday, after weeks of ignoring repeated calls by Caracas to sit at the negotiations table.  Meanwhile, right wing opposition groups continue their destabilizing actions in Venezuela, with the Ministry of Health reporting severe damage to eleven medical centers caused by attacks by these groups.

Venezuela has been the scene of violent actions staged by U.S. backed opposition gangs that call for the overthrow of the democratically elected government of President Maduro. 36 people have reportedly been killed in the violence so far.