According to Bloomberg, US officials met secretly with members of the Venezuelan government in Mexico last week to try to persuade President Nicolas Maduro to engage in negotiations on ‘democratic reforms’ as the deadline for lifting sanctions on the country’s oil industry approaches. The US administration is due to make a decision on oil sanctions against Venezuela this Thursday.
According to people with direct knowledge of the matter, representatives of the Biden administration and the Venezuelan government, including Daniel Erikson of the US National Security Council and Maduro’s chief negotiator Jorge Rodríguez, met in Mexico City on Tuesday to discuss the conditions for elections in Venezuela in July.
On the same day, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who travelled to Caracas with US support, met with Maduro for about three hours and sat down with opposition presidential candidate Manuel Rosales the following morning. The visit came after Colombia criticised Maduro for blocking the participation of some opposition candidates in the 28 July elections.
On Thursday, Colombia’s acting foreign minister Luis Gilberto Murillo said Petro’s government was in constant contact with the US on regional issues, including Venezuela. “We will always play a constructive role through diplomatic channels,” Murillo, Colombia’s ambassador to the United States, said in a radio interview.
Murillo, who helped organise the meeting with Rosales, said on Thursday that he had also met secretly with Maria Corina Machado, the opposition figure who was barred from entering the presidential race.
For months, the United States has been urging Venezuela’s neighbours to put pressure on Maduro. Venezuelan and US officials finally agreed to meet earlier this week. The two countries last met on 23 February.
Francisco Palmieri, the chief of mission for the US Office of Venezuelan Affairs, reportedly joined the US delegation. Deputy Homeland Security Adviser Jennifer Daskal also attended the meeting, according to one person. A press officer at the Venezuelan Affairs Unit declined to comment on Palmieri’s attendance.
It has been announced that the candidacy of Corina Yoris, one of the opposition presidential candidates in Venezuela, has been blocked. The opposition Unified Platform (PUD) said it had been unable to access the electoral council’s website to register its candidate, Corina Yoris. Previously, the candidacy of María Corina Machado, former leader of the PUD, had also been blocked.
Following these decisions, Latin American countries, especially Brazil and Colombia, took the unprecedented step of officially criticising the Maduro government.
