Senior U.S. officials are traveling to Venezuela on Saturday to meet with the government of President Nicolas Maduro as the Biden administration ramps up efforts to separate Russia from its remaining international allies amid a growing standoff over Ukraine, people familiar with the matter said.
This trip is the highest-level visit by Washington officials to Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, in recent years. The United States severed diplomatic relations with Mr. Maduro and closed its embassy in Caracas in 2019 after accusing the authoritarian leader of electoral fraud. The Trump administration then attempted to overthrow the Maduro government by imposing sanctions on Venezuelan oil exports and the country’s senior officials, as well as recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the legitimate president of Venezuela.
Mr. Maduro has responded to the sanctions by seeking economic and diplomatic assistance from Russia, as well as Iran and China. Russian energy companies and banks have been instrumental in allowing Venezuela to continue exporting oil, the country’s biggest source of foreign exchange, despite sanctions, according to US officials, Venezuelan officials and businessmen.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted the United States to take a closer look at President Vladimir V. Putin’s allies in Latin America, who Washington sees as a security threat if the standoff with Russia deepens, according to current and former US officials who spoke at condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive policy issues.
As the Russian economy collapses, the US has seized the opportunity to promote its agenda among Latin American autocracies, which may begin to view Putin as an increasingly weak ally.
When the US and its allies began considering sanctions on Russian oil and gas exports this month to punish the country for the devastation inflicted on Ukraine, prominent voices linked to both major US political parties pointed to Venezuela as a potential replacement.
Well-connected Republicans have been involved in talks to restart the oil trade, including Scott Taylor, a former Republican congressman from Virginia who works with Robert Strick, a Washington lobbyist who briefly signed up to represent Mr. Maduro’s regime in 2020. and keeps in touch. with the people around him.
Mr. Taylor said he spoke Friday night with a Venezuelan businessman who signaled that Mr. Maduro’s team was keen to re-engage with the United States.
“We must seize this opportunity to achieve a diplomatic victory and intervene between Russia and Venezuela,” the statement said.
Updated
March 6, 2022 3:30 AM ET
Trish Regan, a former Fox Business host and conservative media personality, has called for an alliance with Venezuela to push Russian oil out of the US market.
“Venezuela has the BIGGEST source of oil reserves, are we handing it over to the Chinese and Russians?” she tweeted on Friday.
Shortly before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov traveled to Caracas to meet with Mr Maduro officials. Mr. Maduro has spoken to Mr. Putin on the phone at least twice in the past month, according to statements from both governments.
It is not yet clear how long the US delegation, which includes senior State Department and White House officials, will stay in Caracas or who the group will meet. Representatives for Mr. Maduro and the State Department and National Security Council in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
Before the US imposed sanctions, Venezuela shipped most of its oil to the Gulf Coast of the US, whose refineries were built specifically to process the heavy grades of Venezuelan oil.
If the United States cuts imports of Russian oil, Venezuela could make up some of the lost supplies, said Francisco Monaldi, a Venezuelan energy expert at Rice University in Houston.
Mr. Maduro appears to be open to discussing oil deals with the United States.
“Here lies the oil of Venezuela, which is available to anyone who wants to extract and buy it, whether it is an investor from Asia, Europe or the United States,” he said in a public speech on Thursday.
Mr. Maduro and other Russian allies in Latin America have begun to distance themselves from the war in Ukraine. Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba abstained or did not vote on two resolutions proposed at the UN this week to condemn Russian aggression, while the leaders of Venezuela and Cuba called for a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
Sheila Urdaneta contributed reporting from Maracaibo, Venezuela.