By Raul Castillo
03 Jul 2024, 16:50 PM EDT
Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio said Wednesday that the new dialogue announced between the United States government and the Venezuelan government headed by Nicolás Maduro “is illogical and absurd.”
“It is illogical and absurd for the Biden administration to resume negotiations with the criminal narco-regime of Maduro, which continues to violate the Barbados Accords,” Rubio said in a few brief comments posted on his X account.
According to the Republican senator, the dialogue between the United States and Maduro, which began on Wednesday, only “undermines the opposition and grants international latitude to the Maduro dictatorship.” “I warned that this would happen last year,” he added.
Rubio’s comment is due to the fact that the dialogue initiated between the Biden administration and the Chavista regime does not involve the Venezuelan opposition, as the Barbados Agreement does.
The latter was signed by delegations from the Venezuelan government and the opposition, but is currently void after the Maduro government breached key parts of the treaty, such as allowing all opposition leaders to participate in the July 28 presidential elections or stopping the persecution of activists.
As part of direct agreements between the Biden and Maduro administrations, the Venezuelan government released a group of Americans imprisoned in Venezuela. The United States, on the other hand, partially lifted sanctions against Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA, but reimposed them after the Chavista regime disqualified opposition leader María Corina Machado from running for president.
What did they agree on?
Jorge Rodríguez, president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, controlled by Chavismo, and Maduro’s representative in the new dialogue with the United States, reported on Wednesday the result of the first “virtual” meeting.
In a brief statement published in X, Rodriguez said that after the first meeting, the following was agreed: “the willingness of both governments to work together to gain trust and improve relations” and “maintain communication in a respectful and constructive manner.”
The US government has not yet commented on the results of the first meeting.
Earlier, the State Department’s head of Latin America, Brian Nichols, said at a press conference that he would insist on dialogue with the Venezuelan government. “We are always open to dialogue. I have said this many times,” he said.
Keep reading:
• “This government is going to fall”: the chant against President Maduro that resonated during Venezuela’s thrashing of Jamaica
• Bipartisanship demands Joe Biden to ignore the presidential elections in Venezuela if fraud is committed
• The United States urged Maduro to engage in dialogue “in good faith”