2013: President Maduro Started Talks with the U.S and Stopped Them After a Month and a Half

President Maduro met with former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson in April, 2013. Maduro asked Richardson to tell President Obama that he wanted to improve the relationship with the US.

On April 24,2013, the US filmmaker Tim Tracy was arrested and charged with providing funds to violent protestors. President Obama said the charges were “ridiculous.” Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua wanted to meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry at an OAS meeting in Guatemala in June to formally start talks. Maduro freed Tracy who was flown to Miami on June 4. Kerry called Tracy’s release “a very positive step” and met with Jaua that night.[1] It was the first public meeting of top officials from the two countries since President Obama and President Hugo Chavez shook hands in a brief encounter at a meeting in 2009.[1]

At the meeting, Kerry said: ” We would like to see our countries find a new way forward, establish a more constructive and positive relationship.” Kerry expressed hope that the countries could quickly move to the appointment of ambassadors.[1]

Later in June, Edward Snowden released thousands of NSA classified documents to the press. The US charged Snowden with espionage.  The US applied diplomatic pressure on Latin American countries to not offer asylum to Snowden. Washington’s message was that helping Mr Snowden “would put relations in a very bad place for a long time to come.” [2] On July 6, Maduro offered asylum in Venezuela to Snowden who chose to stay in Russia instead. Kerry telephoned Jaua and expressed concern over the asylum offer to Snowden. [3]

President Obama nominated Samantha Power as U.S. Ambassador to the UN. During her Senate confirmation hearing on July 17,2013, Power promised to stand up against “repressive regimes” and said that would mean “contesting the crackdown on civil societies being carried out in countries like Cuba, Iran, Russia and Venezuela.”

On July 20,2013, Maduro announced that he was stopping the talks to improve relations with the United States in reaction to Power’s statement [3] He said that Power had publicly attacked Venezuela and that:[4]

·       “My policy is zero tolerance to gringo aggression against Venezuela. I’m not going to accept any aggression, whether it be verbal, political or diplomatic. Stay over there with your empire, don’t involve yourselves anymore in Venezuela.”

1.    New York Times, Kerry Meets with Official of Venezuela to set Talks, June 5, 2013

2.    New York Times, U.S. is Pressing Latin Americans to Reject Snowden, July 11, 2013

3.    New York Times, Venezuela Stops Efforts to Improve U.S. Relations, July 20, 2013

4.    Venezuelanalysis, With “Zero Tolerance for Gringo Aggression” Maduro Cuts Off Venezuela-U.S. Talks, July22, 2013

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