Venezuela foreign minister Jorge Arreaza secretly met with the US special envoy to Venezuela, despite Donald Trump’s public calls for Maduro to step down.
The two diplomats had two meetings recently, despite US President Trump’s hostile rhetoric and a round of sanctions imposed on Venezuela’s national oil company.
The first meeting happened in a hostile tone, with Abrams threatening Venezuela with t he deployment of US troops and berating Venezuela for being allied with Cuba and Russia. The second meeting, which took place four days after Abrams said that “the time for dialogue with Maduro has long gone”, was reportedly less tense, despite Abrams insisting that US sanctions will oust Maduro even though he enjoys the support of the military.
Despite the hostile rhetoric, the Venezuelan side reportedly saw the meeting as a sign that there is room for discussion.
Speaking in an interview, Maduro attacked Donald Trump for his confrontational stance towards Venezuela’s socialist government, but nevertheless expressed a readiness to meet the US president to solve the ongoing crisis. An unnamed US source admitted that US officials were willing to meet with “former Venezuela officials, including Maduro himself, to discuss their exit plans”.
In other remarks, Maduro blamed the ongoing hardships of his country on what he called Donald Trump’s “infected hand” that is “hurting Venezuela” and praised the support the country enjoys from Russia and China.
The US has imposed sanctions on the Venezuelan oil industry, effectively banning any oil purchases by American companies from Venezuela. Therefore, the Latin American country, which sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves has turned its gaze towards Asia and especially India, where the head of national oil company PDVSA was this week negotiating new sales, AP reports.