Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles has at the last moment backed out of a meeting with the country’s president, despite weeks of unrest in which nine people were killed.  And it’s not clear that the most prominent opposition leader will attend Wednesday’s national peace conference.

“I am not going to make (President) Nicolas Maduro look good,” Capriles said, claiming that dialogue would appear to be an endorsement.  “The only thing Maduro wanted was a handshake and a photo so he can tell the world that everything is OK.”

Capriles, the governor of wealthy Miranda state and a twice-failed presidential candidate, said he wouldn’t participate as long as fellow opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez is jailed.  Lopez is the US-educated former mayor of Caracas’s upscale Chacao district who was arrested on charges of incitement of violence for organizing a mass opposition rally that resulted in the first three deaths of the current unrest.

Meanwhile, the Socialist governor of Tachira state, where the protests began over the crime rate and consumer product shortages, says he was opposed to the force used to put down students rallies.

“No one is authorized to use violence,” said Jose Vielma Mora, characterizing the use armed security forces and fighter jets over his state capital San Cristobal as excessive and unnecessary.