US Still Fails to Recognize Maduro Despite Oil Talks

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki stressed Thursday that the United States continues to fail to recognize Venezuela’s illegitimate president, Nicolás Maduro, despite talks to free US citizens and address the oil crisis.

“The priority of our approach with Maduro, whom we do not recognize as the leader of Venezuela, but who was detaining US citizens, was to bring US citizens home,” he said in his daily press conference.

Two Americans imprisoned in Venezuela were freed on Tuesday after a US delegation traveled to Caracas last weekend, where they also discussed the energy crisis unleashed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Psaki stated that the “priority” of the trip was the release of the prisoners and that “a variety of issues” were also discussed, including the demand that Maduro “walk towards peace” in Venezuela and the energy issue.

The spokeswoman stressed that Venezuela is one of the largest oil producers in the world, although she clarified that at the moment there is no negotiation on “importing” Venezuelan crude oil to the United States or to lift sanctions against the oil sector in that country.

In recent days, several media have published that the president of the United States, Joe Biden, is studying lifting part of the sanctions on the Venezuelan oil sector that his predecessor, Donald Trump (2017-2021), imposed to contain energy prices. after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The talks between the United States, which since 2019 recognizes the opposition Juan Guaidó as interim president of Venezuela, and the Maduro regime coincide with the visit to Washington this Thursday by the president of Colombia, Iván Duque.

In a press conference in the US Congress, Duque refused to comment on the rapprochement of the United States with Caracas and affirmed that his country maintains “a coherent line of foreign policy” against Venezuela, which includes condemning “the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro” .