No Agreement On Maduro After U.S.-Russia Talks On Venezuela RFE

The United States and Russia have held “useful” and “substantive” talks on Venezuela, but the two sides remain split on how to resolve the South American country’s crisis, according to the U.S. special representative Elliott Abrams.

Abrams made the comments in Rome on March 19 after meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who described the talks as “difficult” but frank.

Venezuelan opposition leader and parliament speaker Juan Guaido declared himself interim president in January, and was recognized by the United States, most European Union countries, and the majority of Latin American states.

Russia, along with other countries including Iran, Cuba, China, and Turkey, continues to recognize Nicolas Maduro as president.

“No, we did not come to a meeting of minds, but I think the talks were positive in the sense that both sides emerged with a better understanding of the other’s views,” Abrams said after the meeting in a Rome hotel that lasted more than two hours.

The U.S. envoy said that the sides “agreed very much on the depth of the crisis in Venezuela,” adding: “We are, as they, deeply concerned about the nature and the seriousness of the humanitarian crisis.”

Ryabkov emphasized the need for dialogue with Washington, but warned the United States against military intervention in Venezuela.

“We assume that Washington took our priorities, our approaches, and warnings seriously,” Ryabkov said, according to Russia’s state-run news agency TASS.

The meeting in the Italian capital took place as the United States imposed fresh sanctions on Venezuela, this time targeting the state-run mining company Minerven and its head.

At the White House, President Donald Trump said that “all options are open” when dealing with the crisis in Venezuela, and suggested that Washington could impose “a lot tougher” sanctions on the Latin American country if needed.

Maduro, a socialist who took office in 2013 after the death of Hugo Chavez, was sworn in for a second term in January following elections in May 2018 that were marred by an opposition boycott and claims of vote-rigging, leading to mass street protests.

Russia — who has loaned Venezuela billions of dollars in recent years — has been Maduro’s biggest international supporter since the dispute with Guaido began.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, TASS, and Interfax

February AMI newswire reported that Trump will insist that Maduro down

President Trump Will Demand that Venezuela’s Maduro Steps Down

President Trump will call on Venezuela’s dictator Nicolas Maduro to leave office according an advanced text of a speech he will deliver today in Miami.

Trump will also demand that Venezuela’s military to allow humanitarian aid to arrive in that beleaguered socialist state. If the military leaders refuse, he is threatening to freeze their international financial assets. He has already taken that action against many Venezuelans connected to Maduro.

Declaring “the current path toward democracy is irreversible,” Trump will make his demands in a speech at Florida International University just one week after National Assembly leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president while claiming that Maduro’s 2018 re-election was illegitimate.

“Venezuelan military officials have a clear choice: work toward democracy for their future and the future of their families, or they will lose everything hey have,” said Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “The United States knows where military officials and their families have money hidden throughout the world.”

American and European lawmakers are keeping the pressure on Maduro’s socialist regime as the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate in that country. Most of the country’s military and border security forces remain loyal to Maduro despite the growing international recognition of Guaido as the country’s interim leader.

On Sunday, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio traveled to a remote Colombian border town in an effort to deliver much needed humanitarian aid to Venezuelan refugees and to put more pressure on Venezuela’s military.

Shouting at Venezuela’s soldiers across the border in Spanish, Rubio warned them that they would spend “the rest of their lives hiding from justice” if they did not let a convoy of U.S. aid enter the country on February 23rd.

Elsewhere the deportation of a group of European Union lawyers from Venezuela marks a significant escalation in the ongoing crisis over that country’s political future.
The United States, The European Parliament and dozens of other countries around the world – including almost every country in Latin America, have recognized Venezuelan opposition chief Juan Guaido as the country’s new president.

Maduro’s few remaining allies are Russia, Cuba and Iran.

However, the first international delegation invited to the country by Guaido was turned back at the airport.

“Be aware!” tweeted Spanish lawmaker Esteban González Pons in a rare English language tweet. “Our passports have been taken and we’re being expelled from Venezuela. Bad manners and the only explanation is Maduro doesn’t want us here.”

Pons and the other members of his delegation are from center-right parties in Europe, he has vowed to attempt to return to Venezuela on Saturday – the same day a Major shipment of U.S Aid is set to attempt to cross the border from Colombia to Venezuela.