Senior officials in the US president's administrationJoe Biden, will travel in the coming days to Colombia to hold meetings in Bogotá amid growing tensions between Washington and Caracas.
(Read here: HRW calls Gustavo Petro for silence regarding Machado's disqualification in Venezuela)
This meeting coincides after the Supreme Court of Venezuela confirmed the disqualification against several opposition leaders, including María Corina Machado.
The information about the visit was confirmed to this newspaper by both sources in Bogotá and in Washington.
Among those who will travel to Colombian soil are the United States Deputy National Security Advisor, Jon Finerand White House advisor for the Western Hemisphere, Juan Gonzalez. They will hold meetings with the charge d'affaires of the United States Embassy in Colombia, Francisco Palmieri.
United States Embassy in Colombia
It is expected that officials from Gustavo Petro's government will attend the meetings, which will take place this Monday, to address the situation in the neighboring country. It is not yet clear whether President Petro himself will attend the meeting.
Tensions between Washington and Caracas grew again after the Venezuelan Supreme Court left Machado's disqualification firm. The White House calls for free and fair elections in the neighboring country to ease sanctions.
However, after the decision, the United States announced this Tuesday that it will reimpose several of the sanctions it had lifted.
“The actions of Nicolás Maduro and his representatives in Venezuela, including the arrest of members of the democratic opposition and the banning of candidates from competing in this year's presidential elections, are inconsistent with the agreements signed in Barbados last October by representatives of Nicolás Maduro and the Unitary Platform,” Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the US State Department, said in a statement.
Consequently, Miller continues, The United States will not renew General License 44, which provides relief to Venezuela's oil and gas sector when it expires on April 18, 2024.
United States Embassy in Colombia
Additionally, the United States also revoked General License 43, which authorized transactions related to Minerven, the Venezuelan state gold mining company.
By the way, the American NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) complained to Petro for his silence regarding Venezuela's disqualification.
In a letter published this February 2 by EL TIEMPO, the director for the Americas of HRW, Juanita Goebertusasked the Colombian president to exert his influence in the region.
INTERNATIONAL EDITORIAL
WASHINGTON AND BOGOTA
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