AFP

Caracas

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leaders traded barbs for six hours on national TV over two months of nationwide anti-government protests but found no common ground.

Opposition leaders demanded among other things amnesty for people arrested in the protests in this oil-rich but troubled country.

But Maduro refused these demands in the first such meeting since the unrest erupted.

The protests have left 40 dead and 600 wounded and prompted accusations of human rights violations by police.

Protesters are denouncing rampant street crime, soaring inflation, poor job prospects and shortages of such essential goods as toilet paper.

Maduro called another meeting for Tuesday with government officials.

During the debate he accused radical elements of the opposition of seeking to depose him. He said the opposition must “condemn violence as a way of doing politics, as a form and strategy for changing governments.”

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles said “Venezuela is in a deeply critical situation.” He said he does not want to see the government fall but Maduro must respect the constitution and halt what Capriles called repression.

Ramon Aveledo, representative of an opposition umbrella group known as MUD, also demanded the government disarm civilian social-welfare oriented groups known as “colectivos”, which are seen as pro-Maduro.

Maduro said no. “I ask for respect for the colectivos. Essentially, they are social work groups,” he said.

The talks were carried on Venezuelan TV and radio. They were brought about arduously by a group of foreign ministers from the regional South American organisation UNASUR.

Maduro, Hugo Chavez’s elected heir, has lashed out at the demonstrations, branding them a “fascist” US-backed plot to overthrow his government. His administration has cracked down on the demonstrators, putting at least three opposition leaders in prison.