BusinessPostCorner.com
No Result
View All Result
Thursday, June 5, 2025
  • Home
  • Business
  • Finance
  • Accounting
  • Tax
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • Crypto News
  • Human Resources
BusinessPostCorner.com
  • Home
  • Business
  • Finance
  • Accounting
  • Tax
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • Crypto News
  • Human Resources
No Result
View All Result
BusinessPostCorner.com
No Result
View All Result

Venezuela’s Maduro sidesteps US pressure to bask in regional limelight

June 4, 2023
in Finance
Reading Time: 6 mins read
A A
0
Venezuela’s Maduro sidesteps US pressure to bask in regional limelight
ShareShareShareShareShare

Hopes are fading of a return to democracy in Venezuela as authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro wins greater regional recognition, frustrating US and EU efforts to press him into negotiating free and fair elections for next year.

After years of isolation following his disputed 2018 election victory, an increasingly triumphant Maduro basked in the diplomatic limelight at a South American summit last week hosted by Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Maduro told his fellow presidents his country had survived an assault by the US under former president Donald Trump that was “more brutal than [Russia’s] attack on Ukraine”. He cited “900 sanctions and measures against the whole economy” alongside assassination attempts, threats of military invasion and international isolation.

“And here we are, resisting and looking forward to the future,” he concluded, after boasting that his revolutionary socialist party had won 27 out of 29 presidential, parliamentary and local elections during its 24 unbroken years of rule.

Standing next to Maduro, Lula offered him an uncritical endorsement and spoke of “a narrative which has been constructed against Venezuela”, adding: “I think Venezuela ought to show its own narrative so it can really change people’s minds.”

Thomas Shannon, a former top US state department diplomat who is now an adviser at Washington law firm Arnold & Porter, said Lula had “really undermined the approach that the Biden administration has — which could have had some success — by convincing Maduro that he doesn’t have to give the opposition anything”.

Nicolás Maduro had bilateral meetings with the leaders of Brazil, Argentina and Colombia © Andre Penner/AP

Maduro is facing an investigation by the International Criminal Court for possible crimes against humanity and has a $15mn US bounty on his head over narcoterrorism charges. However, he also secured bilateral meetings in Brasília with Argentina and Colombia’s leftwing leaders, as well as Lula.

None of them publicly criticised the political repression and economic mismanagement in Venezuela that triggered the exodus of 7mn refugees. Only Chile’s leftwing leader and Uruguay’s conservative president raised concerns about rights abuses in Venezuela, remarks Maduro quickly batted away.

A Brazilian diplomat said Lula had privately raised the issue of Venezuelan elections with Maduro. “The important thing was to get these presidents together,” he said. “For years we had a situation with some refusing to be in the same room as others.”

The Biden administration shifted away last year from a failed Trump-era strategy of “maximum pressure” sanctions intended to force regime change in Caracas. In November it allowed Chevron to restart limited oil exports from the country, a move intended to induce Maduro to reopen talks with the opposition.

The US concession followed a preliminary agreement between the Maduro government and the opposition at Norway-brokered talks that $3bn of frozen Venezuelan funds held in the west should be spent on humanitarian projects.

But six months later, the funds have yet to be unblocked, the talks have not resumed and time is running out for negotiations that could improve the chances of a free presidential election being held next year.

An oil well in Venezuela
Venezuela dodged sanctions by sending cargos of oil to east Asia through intermediaries © Jose Bula/Eyepix/Getty Images

No date has been set for the vote, but with the opposition in disarray Maduro has hinted he might bring the ballot forward.

“Maduro feels no pressure to sit with the opposition and negotiate terms for the election,” said Ryan Berg, director of the Americas programme at the CSIS think-tank in Washington. “Even less so, now that the region is coalescing around him.”

Maduro survived the years of western ostracism by turning to China, Russia, Turkey and Iran and dodging sanctions by sending cargos of oil to east Asia through intermediaries. US officials say his government augmented state coffers by encouraging illegal gold mining in the Amazon rainforest and taking a cut from drug traffickers.

Venezuela has taken a free market turn in recent years, allowing increased use of the US dollar and dismantling some state controls. The IMF said Venezuela’s gross domestic product grew 8 per cent last year and will grow another 5 per cent this year, albeit from a very low base.

Recommended

Montage of images with cutout of Nicolás Maduro in the foreground and smaller cutouts of Juan Guaidó and Joe Biden in the background, against squares coloured dark blue, red and yellow respectively

The EU had hoped to exploit Maduro’s desire for greater legitimacy by dangling the prospect of an EU observation mission for next year’s election. But diplomats in Brussels admit that they will not be able to proceed if Caracas fails to make even minimal political concessions. 

“The window of opportunity may close soon,” one senior EU diplomat said. “It’s a question of months.”

The difficulty for the US and EU is that, after the failure of the Trump-era sanctions and western attempts to recognise an alternative government led by former Congress president Juan Guaidó, they have few options left.

“Engagement with Maduro is important as he has no intention of going anywhere,” said Tamara Taraciuk Broner, a Venezuela expert at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington. “But that engagement can’t be free, it needs to generate incentives for the Venezuelan authorities to advance in a democratic process.”

“The last thing the Venezuelan people need is to have Maduro’s profile raised,” she added. “Maduro has his own narrative about what is happening and Lula . . . gave that narrative more resonance.”

Additional reporting by Michael Pooler in São Paulo

Credit: Source link

ShareTweetSendPinShare
Previous Post

China rebukes west on military activity near its waters after close call in Taiwan Strait

Next Post

Bitcoin Price Prediction as BTC Rebounds from Recent Bottom – Where is the Next BTC Target?

Next Post
Bitcoin Price Prediction as BTC Rebounds from Recent Bottom – Where is the Next BTC Target?

Bitcoin Price Prediction as BTC Rebounds from Recent Bottom – Where is the Next BTC Target?

Apple and Google clash with police and MPs over phone thefts

Apple and Google clash with police and MPs over phone thefts

June 3, 2025
Becoming WPP’s CEO wasn’t on Mark Read’s ‘roadmap’—today he’s transforming the advertising giant with AI

Becoming WPP’s CEO wasn’t on Mark Read’s ‘roadmap’—today he’s transforming the advertising giant with AI

June 5, 2025
Elon Musk urges Americans take action to ‘kill’ Trump tax cut bill

Elon Musk urges Americans take action to ‘kill’ Trump tax cut bill

June 4, 2025
On the move: HHM promotes former intern to partner

On the move: HHM promotes former intern to partner

May 30, 2025
Counties with highest capital gains per 2025 study

Counties with highest capital gains per 2025 study

May 29, 2025
Trump tariff ruling completely changes the global trade war

Trump tariff ruling completely changes the global trade war

May 29, 2025
BusinessPostCorner.com

BusinessPostCorner.com is an online news portal that aims to share the latest news about following topics: Accounting, Tax, Business, Finance, Crypto, Management, Human resources and Marketing. Feel free to get in touch with us!

Recent News

How I reverse-engineered LinkedIn virality (and went viral myself)

How I reverse-engineered LinkedIn virality (and went viral myself)

June 5, 2025
Ship in North Pacific carrying 3,000 cars catches fire, forcing 22 crew members to be rescued from lifeboat

Ship in North Pacific carrying 3,000 cars catches fire, forcing 22 crew members to be rescued from lifeboat

June 5, 2025

Our Newsletter!

Loading
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • DMCA

© 2023 businesspostcorner.com - All Rights Reserved!

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Finance
  • Accounting
  • Tax
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • Crypto News
  • Human Resources

© 2023 businesspostcorner.com - All Rights Reserved!