The US says it will continue to press for Maduro’s departure

The United States assured this Friday that it will continue with its policy of pressure towards Venezuela after the illegitimate President Nicolás Maduro released two American prisoners and promised to resume negotiations with the political opposition in his country.

Maduro’s decision took place after the trip to Caracas by high-ranking Washington officials over the weekend, which surprised both those close to the Chavista leader and his opponents.

“Our position, the position of the United States with respect to Venezuela, has not changed”, said Katie Tobin, special assistant to President Joe Biden. “We remain very concerned.” for the actions of Maduro and “We will continue to pressure Maduro to make the changes that are sorely needed.”, he expressed.

In the days following the meeting in Caracas, pressure increased for Biden to start lifting the sanctions on Venezuela, a policy of the previous Republican administration of Donald Trump to suffocate Maduro and that the current Democratic government has continued.

The trip of US officials to Venezuela took place at a time when Washington has implemented sanctions on Russia that block oil imports for the invasion of Ukraine. That veto has raised fuel prices and is expected to have an impact on the US economy, whose inflation is at the highest levels in four decades.

Following the moves against Russia, speculation arose that Biden would be in negotiations with Venezuela to import oil from there, but several officials have denied this.

“We went there with the specific mission of bringing Americans back”, Tobin said in a telephone press conference in which he tried to focus on immigration issues. “That was the specific and exclusive focus of that effort.”assured the official of the National Security Council.

His remarks came a day after a meeting between Biden and Colombian President Iván Duque in which the issue of Venezuelan migration was central, Tobin said.

Colombia, which shares its border with Venezuela, has become the country that has accepted the most Venezuelan refugees and the United States has contributed humanitarian assistance.

At the end of the meeting with Biden, Duque reiterated that he considers Maduro a dictator and that both Colombia and the United States consider that the only solution to the situation in Venezuela is the return of democracy.

“Our position against the regime of Nicolás Maduro does not change at all”, he told the Colombian press.

The US government has not offered details of the talks led in Caracas by Juan González, the head of Latin America at the National Security Council. It was the first visit by a White House official since Hugo Chavez was president in the late 1990s.

Although two were released, there are still eight Americans arrested in Venezuela.

Maduro, an ally of Russia, has given few signs that he would abandon President Vladimir Putin.

In Venezuela, the most combative sectors of the opposition criticized Biden for the meeting in Caracas, as did his allies in the United States. Others, on the other hand, hope that the meeting will be the beginning of a rapprochement between the two countries.