Hello and welcome to the Intelligence from the Economist. I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Most people have an unfairly rosy view of the island of Madagascar. Lush though it is,

it's a place of grinding poverty and questionable governance thanks to a string of back-to-back

droughts, its south is on the cusp of famine. And Geno Strada was a war surgeon, but he

didn't operate on soldiers, rather the victims of wars, from Rwanda to Yemen to Afghanistan.

Our obituaries editor reflects on the life of a man who believed healthcare was a human

right. But first, today marks the opening of the latest round of negotiations designed

to move Venezuela beyond its dictatorial rule. As the country's economy has no-dived,

its politics has been in stasis since a rigged election in 2018. A crisis ensued and by

2019 Juan Guaidó, the head of the legislature, argued that without a fair winner, the Constitution

entitled him to be interim president.

Dozens of countries, including America, recognize him as such. But the incumbent Nicolas Maruro

has gone nowhere. Last month, representatives from his regime and Mr. Guaidó's opposition

signed a memorandum of understanding, agreeing to work together towards fair elections.

Today we are starting the second stage of a process of negotiation that we know will be

complex, which will surely have very difficult moments for which our entire team has

been prepared.

The meeting, starting in Mexico today, isn't the first time resolution discussions have

been held. It's in fact the fifth since Mr. Maduro took over from the late Hugo Chávez

in 2013. But all the previous events have come to nothing and rather than seed power,

Maduro has consolidated power. Stephen Gibbs is the economist's Venezuela correspondent

...