MIAMI — As Russia’s war on Ukraine rages on, leaders in the Venezuelan community in Miami are watching in suspense — and low expectations — the ongoing talks between the Biden administration and the government of Nicolás Maduro to potentially ease sanctions on Venezuelan oil.
A U.S. delegation traveled to Caracas last week in what was the U.S. government’s first approach to the regime since it broke diplomatic ties in 2019. With the price of oil skyrocketing, the U.S. is seeking alternative sources of oil and renewed engagement with one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies in Latin America.
“As a Venezuelan, I wish they wouldn’t, because it’s going to benefit Maduro,” said Beatriz Olavarria, a local Venezuelan activist who organized a voter drive for Venezuelans living abroad in 2012. “It’s a risky investment for sure, in such a country. But that is what it is.”
The visit from top administration officials came as a surprise to most in the Venezuelan exile community. Having witnessed their country’s opposition weaken in recent years, many are skeptical that a re-engagement approach to discuss sanctions will hold Maduro accountable for human rights violations.
“I don’t know how the United States is going to handle the temporary lifting of some sanctions. Once you’re in there, are you going to stop? I don’t know how that could happen,” said Olavarria. “I don’t think the majority of Venezuelans are going to benefit at all, I don’t think Maduro is going to change in his looting... I don’t think that’s going to change at all.”
President Joe Biden, who is under growing pressure to break more financial ties with Russia and find alternative sources of oil, also faced widespread criticism from Republicans in South Florida, who slammed the administration’s trip and called it a “historic mistake.”
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott said the Biden administration’s only negotiation with Maduro should be “the time of his resignation.”
“Maduro is a genocidal tyrant just like Putin — the U.S. cannot just exchange dependence from one murderous dictator to another. The Biden administration’s focus needs to be on building AMERICA’s energy independence, not asking dictators for favors,” Scott said.
In response to the reports, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, the top Republican in the Senate’s intelligence committee, said on Twitter that he thought Biden was “using Russia as an excuse” to deal with Maduro, and said the meeting was a “demoralizing betrayal” to the Venezuelan opposition.
“#Venezuela’s oil industry is in shambles. Because of marxist incompetence & corruption it will takes years before they can produce enough to even come close to replacing #PutinOil,” Rubio tweeted.
The U.S. does not see Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate president and recognizes opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president.
Delicate negotiations
The U.S. delegation reportedly asked Maduro to commit to holding free and fair elections, a return to negotiations with Guaidó in Mexico City, the release of U.S. citizens in custody in Venezuela and a public condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The representatives were Juan Gonzalez, senior director at the National Security Council for the Western Hemisphere; Roger Carstens, U.S. special envoy for hostage affairs, and James Story, U.S. ambassador for Venezuela affairs, and others.
Ernesto Ackerman, president of the Independent Venezuelan American Citizens, said he’s opposed to any sort of negotiation with Maduro and that he was concerned about what message the meeting would send to Venezuelans in Venezuela.
“You’re negotiating with El Chapo here,” said Ackerman, whose group advocates for Venezuelan Americans to become an influential voting bloc in the U.S. “I think that with a killer like this one, there’s no negotiation that will be favorable to you.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that the administration was also discussing the health and safety of detained U.S. citizens like the CITGO 6, former executives of CITGO Petroleum who were living in Venezuela. “We’re never going to miss an opportunity to do exactly that,” Psaki said.
But Ackerman said he believed the only way to continue to seek justice was by pressuring the International Criminal Court to “judge Maduro and get him out of there.”
U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Miami Republican, said in a statement to the Herald that the Biden administration’s trip was “reckless” and that it “completely dismisses the concerns of our Venezuelan community.”
“Instead of making deals with dictators, our energy crisis can be solved by increasing American energy production and imports from our allies like Colombia and Ecuador,” she said.
Some hope in U.S.-Venezuela talks
Some Miami Venezuelans, on the other hand, didn’t want the talks to become a tool for political gains for either party and opted to see the ongoing talks as a different approach to a human rights problem that hasn’t been solved.
Ade Ferro, the director of the newly formed Venezuelan American Caucus and part of the Venezolanos con Biden campaign coalition group, said she has been in touch with the Biden administration over the trip. She said that her message to them is that the community expects and hopes that if the conversations move forward, “democracy, freedom, human rights and the interests of Venezuelans there and here are issues that are going to be included in those conversations.”
“The sanctions have encircled them in Venezuela and have put a price on their heads, and I think that’s a very strong statement,” said Ferro, “but the reality is that they’re still there and it doesn’t appear that they’re going to leave any day now.
“It’s hard, because these are really difficult and delicate times. We’re talking about war, and I don’t think we have actually digested [what] that means for all of us in times like these. I just can hope and trust and expect that all the things we know that the Biden administration and Biden have been supporting Venezuelan people for are going to be on the table in an eventual deal.”
Reaching a potential deal is a tricky political issue for Democrats on the 2022 ballot in South Florida who are facing constituents squeezed by inflation and rising gas prices. U.S. Rep. Val Demings, who is running against Rubio, released a statement in which she said she was skeptical of the talks in Venezuela and hoped they focused on releasing U.S. citizens and supporting freedom and democracy for Venezuela.
Demings, an Orlando Democrat, added that she thought it was important to restrict exports of American-made gasoline being sold to foreign markets.
“Freeing ourselves from the tyranny of oil means that corrupt dictators like Putin and Maduro lose all of their leverage. It’s long past time to de-fang these regimes, create new American jobs, and bring down energy costs here at home,” she said.
In the meantime, the new talks bring little hope for the millions of Venezuelans who’ve been forced to flee their country. As for Olavarria, the local Miami activist from Venezuela, she said she still dreams of going back.
“Every time I think about it, I want to cry. I dream of living there, I wish I could go tomorrow and just start. But no, I don’t know if I’ll see it. For today, I don’t see it feasible.”
