CARACAS, Dhu-AlHijjah 25, 1438, September 16, 2017, SPA -- President Nicolas Maduro has predicted a new foreign-led effort to mediate Venezuela's political crisis would produce a deal soon, but the opposition said on Saturday it would not accept another time-wasting "show", according to Reuters. Following months of anti-Maduro protests earlier this year that led to at least 125 deaths, both sides sent delegations to meet the Dominican Republic's president this week for a possible start to a negotiated solution. "After weeks of conversations, we are close to an agreement, of political co-existence, of peace and sovereignty," Maduro said in a speech late on Friday. "We're very near." But the opposition, which accuses Maduro of creating a dictatorship and ruining a once-prosperous oil economy, insisted the talks in Santo Domingo were only "exploratory" and would not proceed without firm guarantees of democratic change. They want a date for the next presidential election, due by the end of 2018, with guarantees it will be free and fair, plus freedom for hundreds of jailed activists, a foreign humanitarian aid corridor, and respect for the opposition-led congress. --SPA 22:19 LOCAL TIME 19:19 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w488789