US envoy Elliott Abrams had secret meetings with Venezuela diplomat, says President Maduro
- While White House sharpened its rhetoric against South American country, Trump’s envoy met foreign minister in New York twice, Venezuelan leader said
- Maduro hailed help from China and Russia and said Asia ‘buying larger volumes’ of oil every year would keep Caracas running
A month into Venezuela’s latest political crisis, President Nicolas Maduro said his government held secret talks with the Trump administration and predicted he would survive an unprecedented global campaign to force his resignation.
While harshly criticising US President Donald Trump’s confrontational stance towards his socialist government, Maduro said in an interview with Associated Press on Thursday he hopes to meeting him soon to resolve a crisis triggered by America’s recognition of opponent Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s rightful leader.
Maduro said during two hushed meetings in New York, his foreign minister invited the Washington-based special envoy for Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, to come to visit “privately, publicly or secretly”.
“If he wants to meet, just tell me when, where and how and I’ll be there,” Maduro said without providing more details. He said both New York meetings lasted several hours.
A senior administration official in Washington who was not authorised to speak publicly said US officials were willing to meet “former Venezuela officials, including Maduro himself, to discuss their exit plans”.
Venezuela is plunging deeper into a political chaos triggered by the US demand that Maduro step down a month into a second presidential term the US and its allies in Latin America consider illegitimate.
His opponent, 35-year-old Guaido, burst onto the political stage in January. As head of Congress, Guaido declared himself interim president on January 23, saying he had a constitutional right to assume presidential powers from “tyrant” Maduro.
He has since garnered some support, calling street protests and winning recognition from the US and its allies in Latin America and Europe.
The escalating crisis is taking place against a backdrop of economic and social turmoil that has led to severe shortages of food and medicine that have forced millions to flee, problems Caracas blames on Washington.
Abrams’ appointment as special envoy last month signalled the Trump administration’s determination to take a tougher line on Venezuela.
The hawkish former Republican diplomat was a major voice pushing for the overthrow of Manuel Noriega in Panama in the 1980s and also convicted for withholding information from the US Congress during the infamous Iran-Contra affair. He also played a role in the US response to a brief coup that toppled Hugo Chavez in Venezuela in 2002 which Caracas has always accused Washington of being behind.
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Two senior Venezuelan officials who were not authorised to discuss the meetings publicly said the encounters between Abrams and Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza came at the request of the US.
The first one on January 26 they described as hostile, with the US envoy threatening Venezuela with the deployment of troops and accusing the government of being in league with Cuba, Russia and Hezbollah.
When they met again this week, the atmosphere was less tense, even though the February 11 encounter came four days after Abrams said the “time for dialogue with Maduro had long passed”. During that meeting, Abrams insisted severe US sanctions would oust Maduro even if Venezuela’s military stuck by him.
We’ve been building a path to Asia for many years. It’s a successful route, every year they are buying larger volumes and amounts of oil
Abrams gave no indication the US was prepared to ease demands Maduro step down. Still, the Venezuelans saw the meetings as a sign there is room for discussion with the Americans despite the tough public rhetoric coming from Washington.
At turns conciliatory and combative, Maduro said all Venezuela needs to rebound is for Trump to remove his “infected hand” from the country that sits on top of the world’s largest petroleum reserves.
He said US sanctions on the oil industry are to blame for mounting hardships.
“The infected hand of Donald Trump is hurting Venezuela,” Maduro said.
The sanctions effectively ban oil sales to the US, which was Venezuela’s biggest oil buyer. Maduro said he will make up for the drop in revenue by targeting in Asia, especially India.
“We’ve been building a path to Asia for many years,” he said. “It’s a successful route, every year they are buying larger volumes and amounts of oil.”
He also cited the continued support of China and especially Russia, which has been a major supplier of loans, weapons and oil investment over the years. He said the antagonistic views taken by Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin run the risk of converting the current crisis into a high-risk geopolitical fight between the US and Russia that recalls some of the most-dangerous brinkmanship of the cold war.
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Amid the mounting pressure at home and abroad, Maduro said he will not give up power as a way to defuse the stand-off.
He also reiterated a refusal to allow humanitarian aid, calling boxes of US-donated food and paediatric supplies sitting in a warehouse on the border in Colombia mere “crumbs” after the US administration froze billions of dollars in the nation’s oil revenue and overseas assets.
“They hang us, steal our money and then say ‘here, grab these crumbs’ and make a global show out of it,” said Maduro. “With dignity we say ‘No to the global show’. Whoever wants to help Venezuela is welcome, but we have enough capacity to pay for everything that we need.”
