As he prepares for this month’s election, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced on Monday that negotiations with the US, which has reinstated harsh sanctions on the nation’s oil sector, would soon resume.
After two months of deliberation, Maduro asserted that Washington had proposed the idea and Caracas had accepted it.
“Next Wednesday, negotiations with the United States will resume,” Maduro said on state television.
Secret talks between the US and Venezuela were started in Qatar last year. In the end, they consented to a comprehensive prisoner exchange mediated by the Gulf state.
Alex Saab, a supporter of Maduro, was freed by Washington after being charged by the US with money laundering for Caracas.
In exchange, Venezuela released 10 US inmates, liberated 20 political prisoners in Venezuela, and turned over a wanted man called Leonard Francis, who was at the center of the worst corruption scandal in US Navy history.
After Maduro’s administration and the opposition decided in Barbados in October to organize a free and fair election in 2024 under the close supervision of foreign observers, the United States also lifted some of the sanctions.
But the thaw ended when Maduro’s opponents were not allowed to run against him in elections, and the sanctions were snapped back in place in April.
“We’re going to debate and find new agreements so that everything is respected, (especially) what we signed in Qatar” in September, Maduro said.
The Venezuelan leader said he hoped for “dialogue, understanding, a future for our relationship.”
The US State Department declined comment when asked by AFP about Maduro’s comments.
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