Wednesday, March 09, 2022

Venezuela frees two Americans after talks with US

The release release followed talks with socialist President Nicolas Maduro on March 5, 2022. 
PHOTO: AFP

CARACAS/WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - Venezuela released two jailed US citizens on Tuesday (March 8) in an apparent goodwill gesture toward the Biden administration following a visit to Caracas by a high-level US delegation.

One of the freed prisoners was Gustavo Cardenas, among six Citgo oil executives arrested in 2017 and convicted on charges the US government says were fabricated. The other was a Cuban American, identified as Jorge Alberto Fernandez, detained on unrelated charges.

"Tonight, two Americans who were wrongfully detained in Venezuela will be able to hug their families once more," President Joe Biden said in a statement.


"We are bringing Gustavo Cardenas and Jorge Fernandez home," he said. He gave no more details about their release.

The weekend visit by the US delegation focused not only on the fate of detained Americans but on the possibility of easing US oil sanctions on the OPEC member to fill a supply gap if Biden banned Russian oil imports in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine - something he did on Tuesday. Venezuela is Russia's closest ally in South America.

Washington has sought the release of at least nine men, including those known as the "Citgo 6", two former Green Berets and a former US Marine.

The freeing of the two could set a more positive tone for talks between the United States and Venezuela, which have had hostile relations through successive American administrations.

The US delegation, the highest-ranking to travel to Venezuela in recent years, met the detainees on Sunday in a Venezuelan prison. US hostage envoy Roger Carstens was part of the group, and he was believed to have stayed behind to finalise the release.

Tuesday's release followed talks with socialist President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday as the Biden administration sought ways to stave off the impact of soaring US gasoline prices spurred by efforts by the West to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Biden ramped up the pressure campaign on Moscow on Tuesday with his announcement of a US ban on Russian oil and other energy imports. The ban could further increase prices at the pump for American consumers, adding to inflationary pressure.

Engagement with Maduro, a longtime US foe, was also aimed at gauging whether Venezuela is prepared to distance itself from Russia.

But the Biden administration faced strong criticism on Capitol Hill for its contact with Maduro, who is under US sanctions for human rights abuses and political repression.

Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged the White House not to pursue a deal with Venezuela.

Maduro, he said in a statement, "is a cancer to our hemisphere and we should not breathe new life into his reign of torture and murder".

The United States in 2019 recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate president following Maduro's 2018 re-election, which Western governments dismissed as a sham.

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Sticking point


Cardenas was one of six executives of US-based Citgo Petroleum, owned by Venezuela's state-own oil company PDVSA, arrested during a business trip to Caracas in 2017. A Venezuelan court in November 2020 sentenced the men, who were accused of crimes including embezzlement, money laundering and conspiracy, to prison terms ranging from eight to 13 years.

The executives - five naturalised US citizens and one permanent US resident - have been in and out of prison and house arrest in recent years, their circumstances often appearing to depend on the state of US-Venezuela relations.

Their detention has been a major sticking point between Caracas and Washington, which has repeatedly demanded their release and called their detention unlawful.

Among the Americans still held in Venezuela is Matthew Heath, a Marine veteran charged with terrorism and arms trafficking. Heath denied the charges. US officials said Heath was not sent by Washington and accused Venezuelan authorities of holding him illegally.

Two other Americans still detained are former US special forces members, Luke Denman and Airan Berry, who were arrested in 2020 in connection with a botched raid aimed at ousting Maduro.


US reaches out to Maduro in energy talks with Venezuela

A Venezuela opposition protester holds up a poster of President Nicolas Maduro and his Russia counterpart Vladimir Putin (Photo: AFP/File/Federico PARRA)

08 Mar 2022 

WASHINGTON: A US delegation met with Venezuelan government officials in Caracus at the weekend for talks that included a discussion of energy supplies, the White House said Monday as Washington looks for ways to reduce its imports of Russian oil.

Venezuela's opposition also said it had met with the high-level US delegation, whose trip to Caracas came as Washington seeks to isolate Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

President Nicolas Maduro, with whose regime the United States broke off relations in 2019, has been among the few international figures to assure Russian President Vladimir Putin of his "strong support" in the wake of the invasion.

"As it relates to Venezuela, the purpose of the trip that was taken by administration officials was to discuss a range of issues including certainly energy, energy security," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.

Maduro confirmed the meeting in a televised appearance late Monday, describing it as "respectful, cordial and diplomatic" without going into detail about the issues addressed.

"We did it in the presidential office," he said. "We had almost two hours talking."

"It seemed very important to me to be able, face to face, to discuss topics of maximum interest to Venezuela," he said.

VENEZUELAN OIL

The United States has imposed a battery of sanctions on Caracas in a bid to force Maduro from power, with one 2019 measure preventing Venezuela from trading its crude oil - which accounted for 96 per cent of the country's revenues - on the US market.

According to The New York Times, the visit by senior State Department and White House officials was linked to Washington's alleged interest in replacing part of the oil it currently buys from Russia with the oil it stopped buying from Venezuela.

The White House has indicated it is examining how to reduce Russian oil imports without harming US consumers and while maintaining global supply - although Psaki said Monday no decision had been made on a possible ban on Russian oil.

Psaki said the delegation also raised the "health and welfare" of a number of Americans detained in the country - who include six oil executives jailed in 2017 - but stressed that energy talks and the detainees' fate were "separate paths and conversations."

OPPOSITION TALKS TO RESUME

Since breaking off diplomatic relations with Caracas, Washington had refused to deal with the Maduro government, instead treating opposition leader Juan Guaido as the South American country's legitimate president.

Guaido's office said the opposition held a "sustained meeting" with the US delegation.

The United States is one of almost 60 countries to have recognized Guaido as Venezuela's acting president, having rejected Maduro's 2018 reelection in a poll widely viewed as fraudulent.

Maduro also announced Monday the resumption of talks with the opposition that stalled five months ago.

Washington signaled last month it would be willing to review its sanctions policy toward Venezuela if talks between Maduro's government and the opposition moved forward.
"RINGING THE WARNING BELL"

The announcement came after Maduro's request for a peace negotiation following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in order to avoid a "third world war."

"We are ringing the warning bell ... to the whole world," said Maduro, who called for the "humanitarian corridors" in Ukraine to be respected.

"We are gravely concerned about the possibility of a war in Europe and an extension ... of this armed confrontation, it seems to fester, a public media campaign of hatred and a set of economic measures aimed at aggravating the conditions and extending the scenario of war," added Maduro.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who has a strained relationship with the United States, was skeptical of Washington's motives.

"The US government decides who is the bad guy and who is the good guy and also when the bad guy becomes good and the good guy becomes bad," he wrote on Twitter.

Source: AFP

U.S. to meet with Venezuela as lawmakers strike deal to ban Russian oil


The price for a gallon of gasoline surpasses $5 per gallon at a gas station in New York City on Monday. Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the national average price of gasoline has just surpassed $4 per gallon in the U.S. for the first time since 2008. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo


March 7 (UPI) -- The White House has sent top officials to meet with Venezuelan leaders as lawmakers in the United States announced a bipartisan deal to ban Russian oil amid surging gas prices.

The administration of President Joe Biden is considering softening sanctions imposed on Venezuela in 2019, CNN reported. Easing the sanctions could allow Venezuela to increase its oil production and exports to meet world energy demands.

Juan Gonzalez, the National Security Council Director for the Western Hemisphere, and Roger Carstens, the U.S. special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, are among the group sent to Caracas, sources told the outlet.

It marks the highest-level visit of U.S. officials to Venezuela, an ally of Russia, since the United States closed its embassy and severed ties with the government of President Nicolás Maduro, which has a history of significant human rights abuses as noted by the State Department.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that the Biden administration was considering the possibility of banning Russian oil imports. However, without a replacement for Russian oil, energy prices worldwide could soar to record levels.

"When it comes to oil, Russian oil, I was on the phone yesterday with [President Joe Biden] and other members of the cabinet on exactly this subject," Blinken said.

"We are now talking to our European partners and allies to look in a coordinated way at the prospect of banning the import of Russian oil while making sure that there is still an appropriate supply of oil on world markets."

His comments came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with members of the U.S. Congress on Saturday and asked lawmakers to stop buying Russian oil, which would be "even more powerful than" blocking Russia from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication.

A bipartisan group of four powerful members of the House and Senate said in a statement Monday that they had reached a deal to draft legislation banning Russian oil.

The statement was released by Kevin Brady, the Republican leader of the House Ways and Means Committee, and the committee's chair Richard E. Neal, a Democrat. Sen. Mike Crapo, the Republican leader of the Senate Finance Committee, and the committee's chair Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, were also a part of the agreement.

"As Russia continues its unprovoked attack on the Ukrainian people, we have agreed on a legislative path forward to ban the import of energy products from Russia and to suspend normal trade relations with both Russia and Belarus," the joint statement reads.

"Taking these actions will send a clear message to Putin that his war is unacceptable and the United States stands firmly with our NATO allies."

The lawmakers said that the legislation would give Biden the authority to further increase tariffs on products from Russia and Belarus and require the U.S. trade representative to seek suspension of Russia's participation in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and halt Belarus' WTO accession.

The price of Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, briefly rose above $130 per barrel on Monday to their highest level since 2008, according to NPR. Prices have been quickly rising since Russia invaded Ukraine last month.

Gasoline prices at the pump rose to a national average of $4.06, just shy of the highest level recorded in 2008, according to the American Automobile Association.

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