“Pragmatic”. This is how analysts define Nicolás Maduro and his way of relating to the international community in recent weeks. A few days ago, Caracas received a delegation of Americans whose objective was to achieve the release of United States citizens imprisoned on Venezuelan soil, which was not possible until now. In turn, there were celebrations and entertainment for the 48 years of relations between Venezuela and China.
(Read here: Nicolás Maduro: ‘Iván Duque wants to take revenge on Venezuela’)
On Monday, June 27, Maduro reported through public television that a delegation from the Joe Biden administration was in the country and that he would hold a meeting with Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly (AN). The president did not give details of the meeting.
The next day, Li Baorong, Chinese ambassador to Venezuela, was received at the Miraflores Palace. Music and dances enlivened the meeting with Maduro, who described the Asian giant as “Venezuela’s older sister”. The AN also celebrated.
Playing on these two sides, between the Sino-American rivalry, it is possible that Maduro continues with his intention to annoy the United States by showing that affinity with China.which was created in 2001 when Hugo Chávez and Jiang Zemin founded the Venezuela-China High-Level Joint Commission, in the midst of bilateral cooperation.
To date, there are 618 projects financed by the Chinese Fund that include agreements in the areas of food, health, education, housing, military and energy. China and Russia were the countries that supplied vaccines to Venezuela to deal with the coronavirus. In addition, there is an important aspect: the debt that Caracas maintains with Beijing.
According to the Inter-American Dialogue study center and Boston University, revealed by the Andrés Bello Foundation, between 2007 and 2018 China lent Venezuela more than 67 billion dollars. The economist and university professor José Guerra told EL TIEMPO that, today, the South American country still has to pay 20 billion dollars.
“Maduro is playing pragmatism as inspiration for his foreign policy”This is what former deputy and analyst Nelson Chitty La Roche believes, who believes that the Venezuelan president is moving out of convenience.
“If the Americans come, then Maduro opens the door for them. He smiles with them and asks them to lift sanctions,” says Chitty La Roche, while recalling that while this is happening, the president continues to show his sympathy and good relationship with the Chinese “to whom Venezuela owes a lot of money that it is not paying as agreed.”
With the country with a reduced economy, with some oil sanctions lifted, but which have not yet put the oil industry to run, decisions regarding foreign relations are made “without emotions” because you have to look for the benefits, says Chitty La Roche .
However, the results of the US visit to Caracas have not yet been seen. The truth is that the delegation, made up of the ambassador appointed to Venezuela, but based in Colombia, James Story, together with hostage negotiation expert Rogers Carstens, also held meetings with Juan Guaidó and representatives of the Unified Platform for dialogues in Mexico , as well as other opponents.
(Also read: With harsh qualifications, the Government rejected Maduro’s new accusations)
Maduro is playing pragmatism as inspiration for his foreign policy. (…) Decisions regarding diplomacy,
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take no emotions
The French ambassador in Caracas, Romain Nadal, also participated in the last meeting, since the meeting took place in the French residence as a neutral point since the US embassy in the Venezuelan capital is closed.
“The US delegation came to intercede for the ex-marine (Matthew Heath), but apparently they did not achieve their objective at the moment,” said the diplomat and political scientist Jesús Mazzei. Heath is being held at the Caracas Military Hospital after a suicide attempt. The former marine has been in prison since 2020 accused of espionage when he was in Venezuelan territory and was arrested -according to the Chavista version- with explosives and photographs of refineries.
There are eight Americans imprisoned in the country. Three soldiers, including Heath, and five directors of the oil subsidiary Citgo. In the last visit from the United States on March 5, the release of two citizens was achieved and some sanctions were relaxed on the Biden side. In addition, the nephew of Cilia Flores, first lady of Venezuela, was removed from the list of the Asset Control Office (Ofac).
For Mazzei, another of the points raised by the North Americans was the need to sit down again with the ruling party and the opposition to resume the negotiation mechanism, but, for the political scientist, the steps that are taken from now on will have a new actor: Colombia.
“Directing the dialogue in the coming months I think depends on how the new president of Colombia plays and his role in the region and in the United States-Venezuela relationship,” says Mazzei.
Until now, the expectation remains among the country’s political groups, about whether the United States can promote dialogue again and what will be the role of Gustavo Petro after August 7 in Maduro-Biden relations.
ANA RODRIGUEZ BRAZON
TIME CORRESPONDENT
CARACAS
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