Two Americans released in Venezuela after first diplomatic talks in at least three years | Abroad

One of the two is Gustavo Cardenas. He was one of the so-called ‘Citgo six’, executives of a US branch of the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA who were arrested in 2017 during a business trip in Venezuela on charges of corruption. The United States had already asked for their release several times.

The second was Jorge Alberto Fernandez. He was arrested in the border region with Colombia in early 2021 and was charged with terrorism. According to a human rights group, he was wrongly detained for using a drone.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who regularly lashes out at “US imperialism”, said the meeting with the US delegation was “respectful, cordial and diplomatic”, without giving more details on the topics discussed.

The United States has failed to recognize Maduro’s re-election as president in 2018, and has sought to oust him from power. They introduced sanctions that prevented Venezuela from exporting oil to the US. That may change now that the US no longer wants Russian oil.

According to anonymous sources who spoke to Reuters news agency, the US delegation on Saturday tried to negotiate a deal with Maduro that should lead to the relaxation of sanctions against Venezuela, in order to break the country from its alliance with Russia. Last week, Maduro wrote on Twitter that he is keeping economic relations with Russia completely intact.

Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world, but produces little because of Western sanctions against the country. The US has been the main customer of Venezuelan oil for decades. That changed from 1998 when the left-wing populist Hugo Chávez was elected president. He gradually limited the influence of American oil companies in the country. To limit its economic dependence on the US – and its political influence – the South American country looked for other buyers of its oil, such as China and Russia.