A key Senate Republican on foreign policy slammed Venezuela’s “flawed economic policies and political system” on Thursday, a day after reports emerged that the Obama administration is engaging in its most expansive dialogue in hopes of improving long-strained relations with Caracas.
“Venezuela is a country with great unrealized potential and abundant resources,” said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, who visited with Venezuelan opposition and government officials in Caracas this week. “It is very sad to see that the country’s flawed economic policies and political system have put Venezuela on such a destructive path.”
“Until the government and leaders on all sides can find a way to take a far different approach that fully embraces free markets, disciplined monetary policy, respect for human rights and rule of law, fair elections and ridding the country of rampant corruption, Venezuela is heading to some very difficult times,” the Tennessee Republican said in a statement.
His comments come after Reuters reported Wednesday that U.S. officials are engaged in a quiet diplomatic push with the government of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro aimed at improving acrimonious relations between the two nations that appear to have worsened during recent years.
Citing an unnamed senior Obama administration official, the news agency suggested that the Maduro government — struggling with massive problems in its state-dominated economy since the 2012 death of populist President Hugo Chavez — is not only been receptive to the U.S. overtures, but is actually pushing for the increased diplomacy with Washington.
The development may be a sign that the recent economic sanctions imposed by the Obama administration, along with the administration’s detente with Communist Cuba — a close Venezuela ally — are working to pressure the Maduro government to soften its hostility toward Washington.
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State Department officials Thursday pushed back against the idea that the Obama administration is quietly trying to ramp up diplomacy with Venezuela, which has long been a major U.S. oil supplier.
Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters that “there’s nothing secretive here.”
Mr. Kirby said State Department legal counselor Tom Shannon, a career diplomat who served as the department’s top Latin American official during the George W. Bush administration, was invited to Caracas by Mr. Maduro in April and the two held an open discussion, “not behind closed doors.”
Mr. Maduro then invited Mr. Shannon to visit again in May, according to Mr. Kirby, who added that the “conversations were positive and productive and they will continue.”
However, the State Department spokesman also stressed that “as a key component of our conversation with Venezuela” has been the need for greater democracy and respect for human rights.
U.S. relations with Caracas have sunken to new lows since the Maduro government’s imprisonment of dozens of opposition activists over the past year, including Leopoldo Lopez, a charismatic former mayor of Caracas’ Chacao district, who was accused of inciting violence at political demonstrations in the city last year.
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In March, the Obama administration leveled economic sanctions against seven Venezuelan officials, accusing them of engaging in flagrant violations of human rights. At the time, the White House called on the Maduro government to release “all political prisoners,” including Mr. Lopez.
The nation’s powerful parliamentary chief, Diosdado Cabello, is said to have been involved in the recent diplomacy with Washington, despite news reports that U.S. prosecutors are investigating him for possible drug trafficking and money laundering — charges that Mr. Cabello denies.
• Guy Taylor can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.
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