The White House denied this Monday that the United States is currently discussing the importation of oil from Venezueladismissing speculation that Washington might seek help from Caracas to ease supply shortages.
The administration of Joe Biden is looking for ways to ease the pressure on oil prices exacerbated by the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine.
But the White House ruled out that, after prohibiting the import of Russian crude, the purchase of oil from Venezuela is a matter of discussion.
"Not an active conversation at this time"spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a news conference.
The United States and Venezuela broke diplomatic relations three years agoafter President Nicolás Maduro, in power since 2013, assumed a second term after elections considered fraudulent by the opposition and fifty countries.
Washington then imposed a battery of sanctions to force Maduro out, including a de facto embargo on Venezuelan oil that has been in effect since April 2019.
Speculation about a possible thaw between the United States and Venezuela grew after the release on Tuesday, March 8, of two Americans detained in Venezuela: Gustavo Cárdenas and Jorge Alberto Fernández.
Cárdenas is one of the so-called "citgo 6", six former executives of the US subsidiary of the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA arrested in Venezuela in 2017 accused of corruption. Fernández is a Cuban-American arrested in early 2021 in the state of Táchira (border with Colombia) and accused of "terrorism".
Both were released after senior US officials traveled to Caracas on Saturday, March 5, including Biden’s National Security Council adviser for the Americas, Juan González; the US ambassador to Venezuela (based in Bogotá), Jimmy Story; and the presidential special envoy for hostage affairs, Roger Carstens.
"concrete steps"
Psaki confirmed on Monday the 7th the press reports about the meeting with the Maduro government and pointed out that the issue of energy was on the table.
"The purpose of the trip that administration officials took was to discuss a variety of topics, including, certainly, energy security, but also to discuss the health and well-being of American citizens detained."Psaki told reporters.
Influential senators, such as the Democrat Bob Menendez and Republican Marco Rubio, strongly opposed to the possibility that the Joe Biden administration resume the purchase of oil from Venezuela ruled by the "dictator" Mature.
In addition to being investigated for crimes against humanity, Maduro was charged by the United States justice system with "narcoterrorism" in March 2020, and US authorities are offering a $15 million reward for him.
Asked Sunday if the Biden administration was still looking "some diplomatic compromise with Venezuela that would put more oil on the market"Biden’s National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, limited himself to highlighting the release of the two US citizens.
"Any sanctions relief that we provide, as was true in the last administration and is true in this administration, has to be tied to concrete steps taken by Maduro and the people around him."he added in statements to the NBC network.
González publicly stressed last week that the trip to Caracas had as its main objective the release of the detained Americans and the resumption of Maduro’s dialogue with the opposition with a view to restoring democratic order in Venezuela. The talks, launched in Mexico in August, were suspended by Maduro in October.
The visit on Saturday, March 5, was the first by a senior White House official to Caracas since the late 1990s, a Biden administration official told reporters.
