{"id":227742,"date":"2019-08-22T05:36:40","date_gmt":"2019-08-22T09:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=227742"},"modified":"2019-08-22T05:36:40","modified_gmt":"2019-08-22T09:36:40","slug":"in-venezuela-guaido-questions-maduro-claims-about-us-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/08\/22\/in-venezuela-guaido-questions-maduro-claims-about-us-talks\/","title":{"rendered":"In Venezuela, Guaido questions Maduro claims about US talks"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
In his first public remarks about the matter, Guaido said the Venezuelan government was dysfunctional and that its hardliners would be disappointed to hear about alleged talks with the U.S. (File Photo<\/a>: Juan Guaido M\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Wednesday cast doubt on President Nicolas\u00a0Maduro’s claim that he is overseeing secret talks with the United States, saying it only reflects disarray within the Venezuelan government.<\/p>\n

Guaido spoke a day after\u00a0Maduro\u00a0and President Donald Trump said high-level officials in their respective administrations have been meeting about ending the South American nation’s deepening crisis.<\/p>\n

In his first public remarks about the matter, Guaido said the Venezuelan government was dysfunctional and that its hardliners would be disappointed to hear about alleged talks with the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat’s clear are the contradictions of the regime,\u201d he said at an event in Caracas. \u201cHow many times have we seen how disorganized the regime is? If they’ve been effective in anything, it’s communications, propaganda, lies for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guaido comments focused on dialogue and foreign diplomacy more than he has in the past, as a delegation of opposition leaders this week travel to Washington to fine tune their strategy for forcing\u00a0Maduro\u00a0from power.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile,\u00a0Maduro\u00a0has sent two members of his government to Russia. Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez recently visited Moscow to fortify military ties, and Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez met Wednesday with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in talks aimed at expanding economic, military and other relations between the two nations.<\/p>\n

David Smilde, a senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America, who has spent decades researching Venezuela, said these parallel trips demonstrate the critical role that Russia and the United States have taken in Venezuela’s conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’re having their own high level meetings with Russia, while the opposition is in D.C.,\u201d Smilde said. \u201cThis shows the level that this is a geopolitical conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela have been escalating since early this year when Guaido, head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, declared the constitution gives him presidential powers because\u00a0Maduro’s election last year was a fraud. But despite his widespread international backing, Guaido has been unable to loosen\u00a0Maduro’s grip on power and in particular, the military.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press reported over the weekend that the United States has made secret contact with socialist party boss Diosdado Cabello as close allies of\u00a0Maduro’s inner circle seek guarantees they won’t face prosecution for alleged abuses and crimes if they cede to growing demands to step down from power.<\/p>\n

Maduro\u00a0said on national television Tuesday that talks had long been underway between officials in his government and the U.S. administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve had secret meetings in secret places with secret people that nobody knows,\u201d\u00a0Maduro\u00a0said, adding that all talks had been carried out under his \u201cdirect\u201d authorization. \u201cSure there’s been contact and we’ll continue having contact.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton tweeted Wednesday that\u00a0Maduro\u00a0must be removed and that the talks don’t involve him. \u201cThe only items discussed by those who are reaching out behind\u00a0Maduro’s back are his departure and free and fair elections,\u201d Bolton tweeted.<\/p>\n

As he took questions from reporters Tuesday, Trump confirmed his administration is talking to \u201cvarious representatives of Venezuela\u201d but refused to say whether the White House is specifically talking to Cabello.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t want to say who,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we’re talking at a very high level.\u201d<\/p>\n

A U.S. official told the AP the goal is not to prop up Cabello or pave the way for him to substitute\u00a0Maduro, but to ratchet up pressure on the regime by contributing to the knife fight the U.S. believes is taking place behind the scenes among competing circles of power within the ruling party.<\/p>\n

Many saw negotiations hosted by Norway on the Caribbean island of Barbados between the\u00a0Maduro\u00a0government and its opposition as Venezuela’s best chance at resolving the crisis. Then, Bolton unveiled a new round of harsh sanctions this month, which prompted\u00a0Maduro\u00a0to pull out.<\/p>\n

Smilde and other analysts said that communication between the U.S. and Venezuela unveiled this week is a positive sign.<\/p>\n

John Polga-Hecimovich, a political scientist at the U.S. Naval Academy, said it’s unclear to what extent, if any, Guaido is involved in the talks. If the communication is in fact unilateral between the Trump and\u00a0Maduro\u00a0administrations, it would make the opposition appear weakened.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe direct dialogue speaks to the limitations of the opposition,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The development comes just weeks after the U.S. Treasury Department slapped tough new sanctions against the Venezuelan government that would target even foreign companies that do business with the\u00a0Maduro\u00a0administration.<\/p>\n

Analysts said it’s not surprising that a backroom dialogue between U.S. and Venezuelan officials remains active.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation is in such a deadlock that I imagine the U.S. is looking for a way to open other pathways,\u201d said Venezuelan analyst Carlos Romero. \u201cOnes that are less belligerent than they’ve used up till now.\u201d<\/p>\n

——<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Christine Armario in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Wednesday cast doubt on President Nicolas\u00a0Maduro’s claim that he is overseeing …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":200725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-227742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-scott-smith","mauthors-fabiola-sanchez","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227742"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":227743,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227742\/revisions\/227743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}