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The Biden Administration confirmed on Monday the trip of a high-level American delegation to Caracas this weekend to hold meetings with the Venezuelan regime of Nicolás Maduro, on “energy security” in the midst of the escalation of oil prices due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
This was stated at a press conference by Jen Psaki, the White House spokeswoman, when asked about these direct talks between Washington and Caracas, the highest level ones between both parties in the Venezuelan capital in years.
“The purpose of the trip (to Venezuela) that was taken by administration officials was to discuss a range of issues— including, certainly, energy security,” said the presidential spokeswoman.
According to Psaki the talks are still ongoing.
The spokeswoman avoided offering more details about the meetings with the Venezuelan regime, one of Russia’s main allies in Latin America.
The New York Times, which broke the news of this trip, stated that the delegation was headed by Juan Gonzalez, White House advisor for Latin America.
The United States, under the presidency of Donald Trump (2017-2021,) imposed tough economic sanctions against Venezuela in 2019, among them on oil exports, the main Venezuelan economic engine, which Biden would now seek to eliminate.