Two US citizens, sentenced to prison on charges of corruption and terrorism, They arrived in the United States on Wednesday after being released in Venezuela.days after the surprise meeting in Caracas of a delegation from Washington with President Nicolás Maduro. Is about Gustavo Cardenasformer Vice President of Strategic Relations of Citgo, a subsidiary of the state-owned PDVSA in the United States, and of the Cuban-American George Albert Fernandez. The measure is seen as a sign of goodwill after the talks that both countries restarted to resume oil tradingas a consequence of the harsh US sanctions against Russia.
The meeting in Caracas marked a turn in bilateral relations, broken in 2019 after the White House considered Maduro’s re-election the previous year fraudulent and recognized, like more than 50 countries, the opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president. As a result of these elections Venezuela is under a battery of sanctions, including an oil embargo that prevents it from trading crude in the US market. Since then, Maduro has had the support of Russia to be able to continue exporting oil, which is why Washington’s sanctions on Moscow seek to isolate the government of Vladimir Putin from its Latin American allies in the midst of the invasion of Ukraine.
Biden celebrates
The president of United States, Joe Biden, celebrated on Wednesday the release of the two US citizens “unjustly” detained in Venezuela. It’s a statement, Biden celebrated the “return home” of Cárdenas and Fernández. “These men are fathers who lost precious time with their children and everyone they love, and their families have suffered every day of their absence,” the president said.
For his part, the Secretary of State, Antony Blink, confirmed the return of the former detainees to the country. “We express our deepest gratitude to our many partners around the world who joined us in calling for his release,” Blinken said, adding: “We continue to press for release all U.S. citizens unjustly detained in Venezuela and around the world“.
Who are the liberated?
One of those released on Wednesday is Gustavo Cardenas, former Vice President of Strategic Relations at Citgo, a subsidiary of PDVSA in the United States. The businessman had been detained since 2017 along with five other members of that company who, however, remain in that situation for having signed contracts that “compromised the national heritage.” On February 4, the Supreme Court of Justice ratified the sentences.
The second released is the Cuban-American George Albert Fernandezarrested at the beginning of 2021 under charges of terrorism that the White House had described as “spurious”. The United States also calls for the release of former Marine Matthew Heath, detained since September 2020, accused of espionage and plotting alleged plans to attack oil and electrical installations; as well as two other military veterans, Airan Berry and Luke Denman, arrested for a failed sea raid to overthrow Maduro in May 2020.
approach signs
The release of the American citizens came after meetings this weekend, and for the first time in years, delegates from the governments of the United States and Venezuela were held in Caracas. The meeting was promoted by Washington with the aim of having Venezuela supply the oil that the United States will stop buying from Russia due to the embargo arranged by Biden, in retaliation for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“It was a very diplomatic meeting and we spent almost two hours talking” in a “respectful” and “cordial” environment.reported the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and confirmed that he himself participated in the meeting, accompanied by his wife, deputy Cilia Flores, and the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez.
“There were the flags of the United States and Venezuela and the two flags looked beautiful, united as they should be”Maduro described, who also stressed that both parties agreed to “work forward on an agenda on issues of maximum interest to Venezuela and the world.”
As the US government spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said that “the purpose of the trip by administration officials was to discuss a variety of issues that certainly include energy and energy security.” Psaki maintained at a press conference that energy dialogue and fate of US detainees were ‘separate talks’although he clarified that the United States remains open to talking about “a variety of issues” with the Maduro government.
The United States and Venezuela broke off diplomatic relations in early 2019when the then government of Donald Trump He ignored the mandate that Maduro began then and recognized the self-proclaimed Juan Guaidó in that position. The situation did not change at the beginning of 2021, when Biden succeeded Trump.
Moreover, since the inauguration of the veteran Democratic leader, Washington has intensified the sanctions applied against Caracas, reduced its purchases of Venezuelan oil and replaced them with Russian crude. Once the oil sanctions against Russia were announced, Washington extended the decree that designates Venezuela as “unusual and extraordinary threat” to American security, but at the same time began negotiations to buy the supply from him.
Maduro, ready to sell oil to the US
Maduro had anticipated last Thursday that Venezuela is prepared to sell oil and gas to the United States. “We are ready to reach three million barrels in a short time. I invite investors from Europe, the United States, Asia and South America. There is Venezuelan oil, which is safe oil to give stability to the world, including the United States“He said at the time.
The specialist in economics and hydrocarbons, Anthony De La Cruzassured the newspaper The National that the US delegation traveled to Caracas over the weekend accompanied by Javier La Rosa, president of Chevron in Venezuela and another senior executive of the company. “This is with the intention that those 550,000 barrels that the United States imports do not have an impact on the price of a barrel,” something that is already happening anyway, explained De La Cruz, who in parallel recalled that “we are in a electoral year that would have a high impact on the vote of the Democrats, because they could lose the Houses of Representatives and the Senate”.
“Transition to democracy”
The Venezuelan opposition celebrated this Wednesday the “reunion” between the two countries, although it asked condition any energy agreement with the Maduro government on a “democratization of the country”. “Any lifting of sanctions must be conditional on real progress towards Venezuela’s transition to democracy and freedom,” Juan Guaidó’s team wrote in a statement.
Maduro announced the reestablishment of the dialogue table with all political sectors in search of the economic recovery and stability of the country. “We have decided to reactivate the process of national dialogue with all political, economic, religious factors in the country. We are going to reformat a national dialogue process, more inclusive, broader“, announced the Venezuelan president.
The Venezuelan government and the opposition agreed to the negotiating table in Mexico in August 2021, but it has been suspended since October after the extradition to the United States of businessman Álex Saab, alleged figurehead of Maduro. Saab was arrested in Cape Verde in 2020 as a result of an international arrest warrant requested by the US justice system. The businessman faces a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering in a Miami court, to which he pleaded “not guilty” on November 15.