VENEZUELAN President Nicolas Maduro says the “foreign-directed economic war” on his country would be the focus of next Friday’s talks with the coup-bent opposition.

But fractious extremist elements of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (Mud) coalition vowed to storm the presidential palace and force Mr Maduro out.

“The priority agenda for the country is economic, and productive recovery, solving the issue of distribution, of brutal speculation in various commercial sectors,” Mr Maduro said in a broadcast from the Miraflores palace in Caracas.

The next round of talks mediated by the Vatican and former leaders of Spain, Panama and the Dominican Republic are to take place on November 11.

In their own press conference the Mud said they were participating in the talks because they want an “electoral solution” as an exit to the political impasse in the country.

“The agenda that we will present is the agenda that we are discussing with the Vatican, not with the government, because we don’t trust the government,” said Mud parliamentary group leader Julio Borges.

The Mud is now demanding a new National Electoral Council answerable to the opposition-controlled parliament as the current body has refused their demands for a recall referendum to take place before mid-January.

But Mr Maduro condemned a misinformation campaign by some Mud spokespeople, who he said were putting an ultimatum on the peace talks.

The far-right Popular Will (VP) party said this week it would lead an occupation of Miraflores if its demand for a presidential recall referendum against Mr Maduro is not met before mid-January.

The timing of the referendum is crucial as the PSUV will remain in power if the vote is held after this time regardless of the outcome — if Mud win the vote then Mr Maduro will simply be replaced by Vice-President Aristobulo Isturiz.

Hundreds of government supporters set up a camp outside the palace in response to the threat.

And yesterday tens of thousands rallied in support of the government at several points around the capital, while the VP could only mobilise a few hundred students for a regime change march.