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Sunday, March 6, 2022
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Americas|U.S. Officials Travel to Venezuela, a Russia Ally, as the West Isolates
Putin

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/05/world/americas/venezuela-russia-usa.html
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RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

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U.S. OFFICIALS TRAVEL TO VENEZUELA, A RUSSIA ALLY, AS THE WEST ISOLATES PUTIN

The trip is the highest-level visit by American officials to Caracas in years,
driven by a desire to separate Russia from its remaining Latin American allies.

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President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, right, with Yuri Borisov, the deputy
prime minister of Russia, in Caracas, Venezuela, in mid-February.Credit...Rayner
Pena R/EPA, via Shutterstock

By Anatoly Kurmanaev, Natalie Kitroeff and Kenneth P. Vogel

March 5, 2022
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Senior U.S. officials are traveling to Venezuela on Saturday to meet with the
government of President Nicolás Maduro, according to people familiar with the
matter, as the Biden administration steps up efforts to separate Russia from its
remaining international allies amid a widening standoff over Ukraine.

The trip is the highest-level visit by Washington officials to Caracas,
Venezuela’s capital, in years. The United States broke off diplomatic relations
with Mr. Maduro and closed its embassy in Caracas in 2019, after accusing the
authoritarian leader of electoral fraud. The Trump administration then tried to
topple Mr. Maduro’s government by sanctioning Venezuelan oil exports and the
country’s senior officials, and by recognizing the opposition leader, Juan
Guaidó, as Venezuela’s lawful president.

Mr. Maduro responded to the sanctions by seeking economic and diplomatic help
from Russia, as well as from Iran and China. Russian energy companies and banks
have been instrumental in allowing Venezuela to continue exporting oil, the
country’s biggest source of foreign currency, despite the sanctions, according
to U.S. officials, Venezuelan officials and businessmen.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted the United States to pay closer
attention to President Vladimir V. Putin’s allies in Latin America, which
Washington believes could become security threats if the standoff with Russia
deepens, according to current and former U.S. officials who spoke on the
condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive policy matters.



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As Russia’s economy craters, the U.S. is seizing on an opportunity to advance
its agenda among Latin American autocracies that might start seeing Mr. Putin as
an increasingly weak ally.

When the U.S. and its allies began considering sanctions on Russian oil and gas
exports this month to punish the country for devastation wrought in Ukraine,
prominent voices affiliated with both major American political parties pointed
to Venezuela as a potential substitute.


Image

The Amuay oil refinery complex in Punto Fijo, Venezuela, in 2016.Credit...Carlos
Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

Well-connected Republicans have been involved in talks about restarting the oil
trade, including Scott Taylor, a former Republican congressman from Virginia who
is working with Robert Stryk, a Washington lobbyist who briefly registered to
represent Mr. Maduro’s regime in 2020 and remains in contact with people around
it.

Mr. Taylor said he spoke on Friday night to a Venezuelan businessman who
signaled that Mr. Maduro’s team was eager to re-engage with the United States.



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“We should take this opportunity to achieve a diplomatic win and a wedge between
Russia and Venezuela,” he said in a statement.


LIVE UPDATES: RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

Updated 
March 6, 2022, 12:53 a.m. ET22 minutes ago
22 minutes ago
 * Ukraine warns of threat to hydroelectric power station.
 * Radio Free Europe, with roots in the Cold War, suspends operations in Russia.
 * Photographers document Ukraine under attack.



Trish Regan, a former Fox Business host and conservative media personality,
called for an alliance with Venezuela to displace Russian oil from the U.S.
market.

“Venezuela has THE largest source of oil reserves yet, we’re handing that to the
Chinese and Russians?” she wrote on Twitter on Friday.

Shortly before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Yuri Borisov, Russia’s deputy
prime minister, traveled to Caracas to meet with Mr. Maduro’s officials. Mr.
Maduro has spoken to Mr. Putin by telephone at least twice in the past month,
according to statements from both governments.

It is unclear how long the U.S. delegation, which includes senior officials from
the State Department and the White House, will remain in Caracas or with whom
the group will meet. Spokespeople for Mr. Maduro and for the State Department
and the National Security Council in Washington did not respond to requests for
comment.

Before the U.S. imposed sanctions, Venezuela sent most of its oil to the U.S.
Gulf Coast, whose refineries were built specifically to process Venezuela’s
heavy grades of crude.

If the United States curtails the imports of Russian oil, Venezuela would be
able to replace some of the lost supplies, said Francisco Monaldi, an expert on
Venezuelan energy at Rice University in Houston.



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Mr. Maduro appeared open to discussing oil deals with the United States.

“Here lies the oil of Venezuela, which is available for whomever wants to
produce and buy it, be it an investor from Asia, Europe or the United States,”
he said in a public speech on Thursday.

Mr. Maduro and other Russian allies in Latin America have begun to distance
themselves from the war in Ukraine. Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba abstained or
did not vote on the two resolutions proposed at the United Nations this week to
condemn Russian aggression, and the leaders of Venezuela and Cuba have called
for a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

Sheyla Urdaneta contributed reporting from Maracaibo, Venezuela.







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