CARACAS, Venezuela — A senior U.S. diplomat met with Venezuela’s socialist president Wednesday, apparently hoping to prevent a humanitarian disaster and ease a political crisis in this deeply polarized nation.
CARACAS, Venezuela — A senior U.S. diplomat met with Venezuela’s socialist president Wednesday, apparently hoping to prevent a humanitarian disaster and ease a political crisis in this deeply polarized nation.
Although he is one of the world’s most vociferous critics of the United States, President Nicolas Maduro was all smiles as he posed for photos at the presidential palace with Thomas Shannon, the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs.
Maduro gave a less than conciliatory televised address in which he accused U.S. President Barack Obama of trying to interfere in Venezuela’s internal affairs.
“I gave Shannon a message to take back to President Obama. We hope that Obama can rectify the posture he’s taken during eight years of opposing Venezuela’s revolution.
“Hopefully in these last seven months of his presidency, we can start down the path toward dialogue, with respect for a positive agenda between the two countries. I really hope we can,” Maduro said.
Venezuela is beset by an economic slump that has led to food riots and aggravated political unrest, and U.S. officials have said they want to avoid bloodshed and a humanitarian crisis that might spill across the country’s borders, undermining Obama’s legacy in a region where he made history by reopening relations with Cuba.
The United States has criticized Maduro’s government for jailing critics and blocking the opposition-controlled congress as part of attempts to squelch unrest caused by growing shortages of food and many other key goods as well as triple-digit inflation.