A US mission is heading to Venezuela for a meeting with members of the government of dictator Nicolás Maduro this weekend, according to the American newspaper The New York Times.
The group includes officials from the US State Department and the White House, according to the newspaper. It is not known, however, how long the delegation will remain in the country and with whom it will meet.
Washington cut diplomatic ties with Caracas and closed its embassy in the capital in 2019, the year after Maduro’s widely contested re-election to a second six-year term.
The Venezuelan is one of the few allies of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who finds himself increasingly isolated by sanctions applied mainly by the US and Europe.
It was Putin, along with China and Iran, one of Maduro’s allies when the Americans applied embargoes on the Venezuelan energy sector and sanctions on the country’s authorities in recent years. Oil is the most important sector of the Venezuelan economy and, before the sanctions, most of the product was exported to the US.
The newspaper says, based on statements by officials on condition of anonymity, that Washington fears Moscow’s diplomatic proximity to Caracas in an eventual escalation of the current conflict, which could be a threat to US security.
Furthermore, as sanctions on the Russian economy begin to damage the country and Putin naturally seeks allies to prevent further bumps, Americans are moving closer to Maduro to close yet another potential door on Russians.
When these sanctions were still being discussed and the potential impacts of deep punishments on Russia’s energy sector – with a strong impact on the world economy – were being outlined, important US political actors pointed to Venezuela as a substitute for the market.
Republican politicians such as former Representative Scott Taylor of Virginia are involved in lobbying to re-establish the oil trade with their Latin American neighbour. According to the New York Times, Taylor spoke on Friday night with a Venezuelan businessman, who indicated that the Maduro regime was interested in returning to negotiations with the United States.
“We must use this opportunity to achieve a diplomatic victory and a split between Russia and Venezuela,” the former parliamentarian said in a statement.
Maduro, however, has shown that he intends to remain linked to Putin. There are even signs that he would like to expand the partnership.
Last Tuesday (1st), as reported by the Russian news agency Interfax citing the Kremlin, the Venezuelan discussed the situation in Ukraine with the Russian leader in a phone call.
Maduro expressed support for Russia and condemned, along the lines of Putin’s arguments for war, what he called destabilizing activity by the US and NATO (Western military alliance). The initiative for the conversation came from Venezuela.
In January, roughly a month before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin had suggested sending troops to Venezuela and Cuba, another ally, as a way of putting pressure on NATO.
The suggestion contributed to the return of the Cold War ghost and one of its most tormenting episodes, the Missile Crisis.
In 1962, the Soviet Union wanted to respond to American nuclear missile installations in Turkey by placing a rocket regiment in Cuba, which, in the end, brought the Americans and Soviets dangerously closer to nuclear war.
The following year, after the crisis cooled, Washington and Moscow installed a hotline between the heads of state to avoid miscommunications and miscalculations that could lead to an atomic catastrophe.
