US TAKES STEPS TO NORMALISE TIES, WHILE STILL ISSUING WARNINGS
While keeping pressure on those whom the Trump administration dubs “narcotraffickers” without providing evidence, US officials also are working to normalise ties with Venezuelan acting President Delcy Rodriguez.
Nonetheless, Rubio will make clear in his testimony that she has little choice but to comply with Trump’s demands.
“Rodriguez is well aware of the fate of Maduro; it is our belief that her own self-interest aligns with advancing our key objectives,” Rubio will say, noting that they include opening Venezuela’s energy sector to US companies, providing preferential access to production, using oil revenue to purchase American goods, and ending subsidised oil exports to Cuba.
Rodriguez, who previously served as Maduro’s vice president, on Tuesday said her government and the Trump administration “have established respectful and courteous channels of communication”.
During televised remarks, Rodríguez said she is working with Trump and Rubio to set “a working agenda”.
So far, she has appeared to acquiesce to Trump’s demands and to release prisoners jailed by the government under Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez.
On Monday, the head of a Venezuelan human rights group said 266 political prisoners had been freed since Jan 8.
Trump had praised the releases, saying on social media that he would “like to thank the leadership of Venezuela for agreeing to this powerful humanitarian gesture!”
In a key step to the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the State Department notified Congress just this week that it intends to begin sending additional diplomatic and support personnel to Caracas to prepare for the possible reopening of the US Embassy there.
It was the first formal notice of the administration’s intent to reopen the embassy, which shuttered in 2019.
Fully normalising ties, however, would require the US to revoke its decision recognising the Venezuelan parliament elected in 2015 as the country’s legitimate government.
Rubio also planned to meet Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado later Wednesday at the State Department.
Machado went into hiding after Maduro was declared the winner of the 2024 presidential election despite ample credible evidence to the contrary.
She reemerged in December to pick up her Nobel Peace Prize in Norway.
After Maduro was ousted, she came to Washington. In a meeting with Trump, she presented him with her Peace Prize medal, an extraordinary gesture given that Trump has effectively sidelined her.