US says still open to talks with Venezuela after Maduro-Venezuela meeting announced

By Daphne Psaledakis and Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON, — The Biden administration remains open to dialogue with the Venezuelan government, U.S. officials said Tuesday after President Nicolas Maduro said he had agreed to resume direct talks just weeks before Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election.

Officials said the United States had previously indicated it welcomed discussions “in good faith,” but they did not confirm Maduro’s statement Monday night that a meeting was now scheduled in the coming days.

The socialist president is seeking a third term as Washington worries about his ability to deliver on his promise to hold free and fair elections. Western governments have called his 2018 re-election a sham.

Maduro now faces Edmundo Gonzalez, a veteran former diplomat who was named the main opposition candidate after primary winner Maria Corina Machado had her ban from holding public office upheld by the Supreme Court, a move condemned by the United States at the time.

Machado has since thrown his support behind Gonzalez, and he has built a wide lead over Maduro in opinion polls.

The United States reimposed oil sanctions on OPEC member Venezuela in mid-April, accusing Maduro of failing to fully respect electoral guarantees he gave in deals with the opposition.

Maduro said in a television broadcast that he had accepted Washington’s proposal to resume negotiations with the United States “to respect the agreements signed in Qatar and restore the terms of dialogue with respect.”

Secret negotiations between the United States and Venezuela in Qatar late last year helped pave the way for Maduro to schedule elections this month.

“I’m not going to get into the details of our diplomatic engagements, but I’ll just say that in the context of Venezuela – you’ve heard us say this before – we of course welcome good faith dialogue and we support the desire of the Venezuelan people to have competitive and inclusive elections on July 28,” said U.S. State Department spokesman Vedant Patel.

“We recognize that democratic change will not be easy and will certainly require serious commitment,” Patel said at a daily briefing in Washington.

Venezuela’s official negotiator and National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez will participate in the talks, Maduro said, without detailing the specific topics that will be discussed.

It is not yet clear whether the meeting will take place in person or virtually. A previous meeting between senior U.S. officials and Maduro representatives took place in Mexico in mid-April.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modification of the text.