The United States has confirmed that A delegation from the White House met last weekend with the Venezuelan regime of Nicolás Maduro to discuss alternatives to Russian oil at a time when the price of crude oil has skyrocketed due to the invasion of Ukraine. The North American country traces other options to the Russian gas that it imports.
“The purpose of the trip made by administration officials was to discuss a variety of issues including certainly energy, energy security,” said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki.who confirmed that the meetings will continue.
The meeting between senior officials from the United States and Venezuela has surprised the international community, since Both countries broke relations in early 2019, after Maduro assumed a second term in elections that were considered fraudulent by the opposition. At that time, from Washington Juan Guaidó was recognized as president of the Legislature and as the only legitimate authority in the country.
In addition to that, the White House imposed sanctions against the Bolivarian Government in order to force Maduro’s fall from power. Among those measures, There was an embargo on Venezuelan crude, which is still in force today. Now the war in Ukraine could change the situation since the possibility of relaxing international sanctions on Venezuela is contemplated, so that the Latin American country could recover its oil production.
Venezuela, Latin American ally of Russia
On the other hand, with this rapprochement with Maduro, What Biden seeks is to completely isolate Vladimir Putin. And it is that Venezuela is one of its great allies. Relations between Moscow and Caracas are based on military and economic cooperation. Russia has lent around 17,000 million dollars to the Bolivarian Executive since 2006, which makes the Russian country one of its largest creditors.
Also, the two countries are closely intertwined in the energy sector. In 2017, the Russian oil company Rosneft founded a business association with the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, of which it owns 51%.
How would an ‘alliance’ between the US and Venezuela affect?
It is precisely in the energy field where the meeting between the US and Venezuela can produce a change in relations between countries. As indicated to AFP Francis Monaldidirector of the Energy Program for Latin America at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University (Texas), Maduro may be interested in negotiating agreements with the White House.
Monaldi explains that the sanctions on Russian banks indirectly affect Venezuela, because the South American country evades sanctions through Russian banks, so a trade deal with the United States would offset the flow of money into Venezuela that has now been hampered.
On the other hand, Venezuela may need the redistribution of the oil it exports. Russia currently exports to the United States, but if the Joe Biden administration decides to stop buying crude from Russia, a domino effect could occur. Russia, Monaldi points out, would then seek to export its barrels to China, a country that Venezuela has as a preferred partner. If the Chinese market for Venezuela is reduced, Maduro would be interested in opening new avenues like the United States.
At the moment, there has only been a rapprochement, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine has produced an event unthinkable for two weeks, a meeting between the Bolivarian regime of Nicolás Maduro and the United States.
