Biden and Leftist Governments in South America Appear Eager To Embrace Venezuela’s Maduro

He’s back. After a period in which Venezuela’s President Maduro was shunned by right and centrist Latin American leaders, the current batch of populist leftists are eager to embrace the Chavista Bolivarian — and so is President Biden. Promises to the contrary aside, Mr. Maduro refuses to conduct free and fair elections in his country. Yet, Latin Americans and Washington insist that negotiations can bring back democracy to Venezuela. This week, Colombia’s government issued invitations to delegations from Latin America, Europe, and America for a meeting after the Easter holiday designed to promote dialogue between Mr. Maduro and the Venezuelan opposition. The Colombian government is yet to set a date, but Washington has confirmed it would attend. “I will convene an international conference in Colombia with the objective of building the roadmap that allows effective political dialogue between society and the Venezuelan government,” Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, said. The event, likely to take place in Bogota this month, will relaunch negotiations that broke down in November.The state department is giving a stamp of approval. “We are concerned about the situation of the Venezuelan people, and any country that is providing its good votes and good offices to improve the situation is something important,” Assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Brian Nichols, said in an interview with the news agency EFE.The European Union expressed interest too. “Any initiative that promotes Venezuela’s normalization and democratization is welcome,” the European Union foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, told the newspaper Europa Press.A member of the Venezuelan opposition, Stalin González, welcomed Mr. Petro’s initiative. “It represents an opportunity to find a solution,” he said. Only through “real discussions,” will the parties reach an agreement to save the country from the current crisis and begin living in a democracy, he said. “On our part, we have never suspended the negotiation process,” Mr. Gonzalez said. “Our invitation to the regime, which has shown erratic behavior that has hindered progress and addressing fundamental issues on the agreed agenda, is to continue this work for the whole country.”Mr. Maduro and the opposition returned to the negotiations table last November in Mexico City. The talks, facilitated by the Norwegian government, were supposed to determine the conditions for free and fair presidential elections in 2024. Opposition primaries are scheduled for October this year. It was all a ruse. Mr. Maduro refused to return to the negotiation table since then, claiming he did not receive the $3.1 billion frozen funds that the United Nations agreed to unfreeze during the Mexican negotiations. The funds would be released to combat Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis.During a Caracas event last month, billed as an anti-imperialism rally, Venezuela’s National Assembly president, Jorge Rodriguez, doubled down on the regime’s vow to shun negotiations with the opposition until America removes all sanctions. Washington’s call for free and fair elections while America continues to impose sanctions against Venezuela is “immoral,” he said. Caracas will not “sign any agreement with that sector of the Venezuelan opposition until it is one hundred percent free of sanctions, until the 765 unilateral coercive measures signed by Donald Trump and Barack Obama are lifted,” Mr. Rodríguez said.Meanwhile Mr. Biden is quietly lifting sanctions against Venezuela. In November, Washington issued a six-month license for Chevron to resume operations in Venezuela and restart joint ventures with the state-owned oil company, known as Pdvsa. The measure restarted Venezuelan oil export to America after an almost four-year pause.Since taking office in 2022, Mr. Petro has emerged as an ally of Mr. Maduro and restored relations that his predecessor, Ivan Duque, broke after Bogota recognized a Venezuelan opposition leader, Juan Guaido, as interim president.Since August, Mr. Petro has met with his Venezuelan counterpart four times, while he still awaits a formal invitation to the White House. According to the Colombian government, the upcoming conference was a “key subject” in the most recent bilateral meeting between Mr. Petro and Mr. Maduro at Caracas on March 23.

Biden and Leftist Governments in South America Appear Eager To Embrace Venezuela’s Maduro

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