Venezuela, pres. Maduro announces restart of talk with U.S. govt
*Dialogue to continue within framework of previous talks
*Discussion topics to include exemption to sanctions, CITGO’s situation and treasury bonds
*The agreement signed in 2023 provided for the easing of sanctions on the oil industry
*Increase of immigrants in the last year also impacted Biden’s popularity
*Biden aims for Latin American voter’s sympathy by distancing from Trump
*Opposition leaders were not informed by the U.S.
*Oppositor Barboza affirms his organization is not part of the dialogues
*Biden seems to have hit Venezuelan opposition as concerns about his re-election rise
*Discussion topics to include exemption to sanctions, CITGO’s situation and treasury bonds
*The agreement signed in 2023 provided for the easing of sanctions on the oil industry
*Increase of immigrants in the last year also impacted Biden’s popularity
*Biden aims for Latin American voter’s sympathy by distancing from Trump
*Opposition leaders were not informed by the U.S.
*Oppositor Barboza affirms his organization is not part of the dialogues
*Biden seems to have hit Venezuelan opposition as concerns about his re-election rise
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NewsTranscript
00:00And, on a related topic, on July 2nd, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro approved the U.S.
00:05request to restart direct talks between the countries.
00:09Experts commented to Telesur that several domestic factors push the Biden administration
00:14to the talks, which will also have implications for the Venezuelan elections at the end of
00:19this month.
00:20Special Envoy Yunus Soner with the story.
00:25Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro announced the restart of talks in his weekly TV program,
00:29Con Maduro Más.
00:30For two continuous months, I have received from the government of the United States the
00:36proposal to reestablish talks and a direct dialogue.
00:40After thinking about it for two months, I have accepted, and next Wednesday the first
00:49virtual meeting took place on July 3rd with Venezuelan National Assembly President Jorge
00:54Rodríguez representing his country.
00:58On the social media platform X, Rodríguez stated that the dialogue will continue in
01:02the framework of the previous talks in Qatar.
01:05Franco Vielma says the talks will focus on oil.
01:10One of the topics will be the renewal of the license number 44 from the United States
01:14that permitted a certain margin of case-by-case discretion concerning companies that want
01:20to enter into a relationship with Venezuela.
01:26Vielma adds that besides exemptions to sanctions, the situation of the Venezuelan company Citgo
01:32as well as Venezuelan treasury bonds might be discussed.
01:36Sanctions do affect the Venezuelan economy, but according to Professor Rafael Lloris,
01:41it is the U.S. that is in an increasingly desperate situation.
01:46Because of the situation in Eastern Europe that led to rising oil prices that impacted
01:53the popularity of Biden, the inflation has been one of the main reasons why he lost his
02:00support here in the United States and that weakens his candidacy for the re-election.
02:06The agreement of 2023 signed in Qatar foresaw the easing of sanctions on Venezuela's oil
02:12industry with cooperation in repatriating Venezuelan immigrants in exchange.
02:19And a third reason, which is also very much domestic, is the increase in immigrants recently
02:23in the last few years on the border, wherein Venezuelan numbers have increased as well.
02:28Concerned about the upcoming elections, the Biden administration seeks to ease
02:33migration pressure. The U.S. signed a migration agreement with Panama only one day after
02:38Panama's new president took office. And Biden also wants to show to the Latin American voters
02:43that he defers from Trump in being able to dialogue with Latin American countries,
02:48says the U.S. professor, with consequences for the Venezuelan opposition.
02:56In the agreements reached between Caracas and Washington in Qatar,
02:59with the mediation of the country, the Venezuelan opposition had not participated at all.
03:04The expert emphasizes that opposition leaders such as María Colina Machado and Omar Barbosa,
03:10secretary-general of the Unitary Democratic Platform, were not even informed by the U.S.
03:15learning about the agreement from President Maduro's public announcement, and concludes
03:22They are secondary or even less important from the United States' point of view.
03:26They don't play a role in these talks and have no room to present proposals or undertake
03:32political maneuvers. For the Venezuelan opposition, Omar Barbosa welcomed the
03:37restart of talks and stated that his organization is not part of them.
03:43It is a bilateral dialogue between the government of Maduro and the government of the United States.
03:48Concerned with his own election, it seems that U.S. President Biden has
03:52dealt a blow to the Venezuelan opposition.