John Kerry meets Venezuelan counterpart amid rising tensions

Secretary of State John Kerry met with the Venezuelan minister of Foreign Affairs in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, a rare high-level encounter preceded by strong words from both sides.

Kerry met Minister Delcy Rodriguez at the 46th General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS). Before the head-to-head encounter, Kerry called for Venezuela to release political prisoners and move ahead with a referendum that could oust President Nicolás Maduro, reported The Wall Street Journal.

Rodríguez responded by saying Venezuela’s situation is worsened by “international bullying from the right.”

OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro in May accused Maduro’s government of violating the organization’s Democratic Charter, a move that could potentially result in the expulsion of Venezuela from the body.

In Santo Domingo, Almagro and Rodríguez traded barbs on Twitter. The Venezuelan official accused Almagro of having an “interventionist position,” while the OAS chief demanded Venezuela present “arguments and not personal attacks.”

Venezuela is in the midst of a deep financial crisis, partly due to its reliance on commodities — mainly oil — for foreign revenue and what many analysts say has been gross mismanagement of public funds by the governments led by Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez.

Since the collapse of commodities markets, Venezuela has struggled to import sufficient goods to stock its markets, and the economic crisis has taken a political turn. 

Kerry alluded to the shortages at the assembly, “calling on the Venezuelan government to release political prisoners, to respect freedom of expression and assembly, to alleviate shortages of food and medicine and to honor its own constitutional mechanisms.”

Last year’s parliamentary elections marked the first time since Chavez came to power in 1998 that the opposition scored a victory against the Chavez-Maduro regimes, winning a majority in the unicameral National Assembly. The opposition’s celebration was short-lived, however, since reforms enacted before the new Assembly was sworn in took power away from the legislative branch and handed it to the Maduro-controlled judiciary.

The Obama administration renewed sanctions against the Venezuelan government in March, in part because of the Maduro government’s treatment of the opposition.  

The meeting between Kerry and Rodríguez was the first between high-level officials since the renewed sanctions took place. The State Department issued a brief statement saying it was a “constructive discussion about the current political, economic, and humanitarian challenges facing Venezuela.”

The meeting took place in “an environment of respect and coriality,” said a statement by the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, adding such encounters are “the only route to understanding the real Venezuelan situation.”