Senior US officials traveled to Venezuela on Saturday to meet with members of President Nicolas Maduro’s government as Washington seeks to isolate Russia, the New York Times reported.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted the United States to pay more attention to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s allies in Latin America, the newspaper said, citing sources who wished to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The United States cut off diplomatic relations with Venezuela after Maduro was re-elected in 2018, believing that the election process had been marred by fraud. Washington then recognized then-parliament speaker and opposition leader Juan Guaido, who declared himself interim president of Venezuela in 2019.
The United States has also imposed a series of sanctions on Venezuela in a bid to force Maduro to step down. One of these measures, which took effect in April 2019, prevents Caracas from selling its crude oil – which accounts for 96% of the country’s revenue – to the US market.
According to the New York Times, the visit by US State Department and White House officials to Caracas is linked to the US desire to replace some of the oil it buys from Russia with that in Venezuela.
The White House said Friday it was looking at ways to reduce Russian oil imports after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine without hurting American consumers and while maintaining global supply.
The United States had indicated in February that it would be willing to change its sanctions policy against Venezuela if talks between the Maduro government and the opposition, which began in August but were suspended in October, continued.
Source: AMPE
Source: Capital
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