Venezuela: Maduro Announces Resumption of Talks With USA

Nicolas Maduro said talks with the USA will be resumed. The Venezuelan president stated this during a program on public television: “After thinking about it, I agreed, and talks will resume next Wednesday with the US government to honor the agreements signed in Qatar and to restore the conditions of respectful dialogue.”

The aim is to resume bilateral relations, and Maduro added that Washington’s request would reflect the belief that he will be re-elected president once again in the July 28, 2024 elections. The election campaign will open on July 4, and Maduro’s main opponent will be Edmundo Gonzalez, backed by Maria Corina Machado who won the opposition primary but was barred from running because of an administrative sanction.

The President explained that he is “a man of dialog” and hopes that the “conflict with the North” will end. In 2023, Venezuela and the USA reached a prisoner exchange agreement brokered by Qatar, and oil sanctions were eased as part of the agreement related to greater transparency in the electoral process. But then the USA reinstated sanctions in April 2024, with Maduro accusing Washington of violating the agreements.