How long will it take before administration officials realize they’ve been had?
How long will it take before administration officials realize they’ve been had?
O n October 1, the Biden administration engaged in a prisoner swap with the Maduro regime that freed seven unjustly imprisoned Americans in exchange for the “narco nephews” — two nephews of Cilia Flores, wife of the dictator Nicolás Maduro, who were serving 18-year terms in U.S. federal prison for cocaine trafficking.
On November 26, representatives of the Maduro regime and the democratic opposition met in Mexico and, as the AP reported, “agreed to create a U.N.-managed fund to finance health, food and education programs for the poor, while the Biden administration eased some oil sanctions on the country in an effort to boost the newly restarted talks between the sides.”
Two days later, on November 28, the Biden administration issued a license authorizing Chevron to resume limited oil operations in Venezuela — to produce crude oil and petroleum products and bring them to the United States. On that occasion, administration officials were careful to say that this was not something for nothing. The United States supports a return to democracy in Venezuela, and sanctions will be fully reimposed if “the Maduro regime fails to negotiate in good faith or follow its commitments.”
How is the policy going so far? Fine, if you’re Nicolás Maduro. Chevron has its license, Flores has her nephews, and the democracy talks are going nowhere.
If you’re part of the democratic opposition in Venezuela, you have achieved nothing. The opposition understood in Mexico that Maduro wanted one round of talks so that the first step toward lifting sanctions on Venezuela would be taken by Washington. The opposition therefore demanded that dates be set for future rounds, when serious discussions could get started and the regime’s willingness to make political concessions could be tested. The regime, of course, opposed this, wanting — instead of a firm date — just a general plan to meet again. Guess with whom the United States sided? The regime, not the opposition.
So as the year comes to a close, there is no firm date for a second round of talks. And guess what concessions the regime has made on freedom of the press, free speech, freeing political prisoners, or allowing exiled political leaders to return? None.
How long will it take before Biden administration officials — those who stated that sanctions would be reimposed if “the Maduro regime fails to negotiate in good faith or follow its commitments” — realize they’ve been had? That question assumes their good faith, of course; perhaps the Biden administration has simply given up on progress toward democracy in Venezuela, and perhaps the lobbying by Chevron and other oil companies simply outweighs any desire to advance democracy and human rights.
The talks in Mexico are mediated by Norway, which is accepted as a neutral party by both the regime and the opposition. Support for the opposition is supposed to come from the United States. Sadly, the Biden administration has withdrawn much of this support, and now favors talks that give a sufficient appearance of “progress” (even when there is no progress) so as to permit lifting of oil sanctions. “President Biden, with no hope of winning the state [of Florida] in 2024, is now free to pursue more pragmatic policies towards Cuba and Venezuela,” wrote Max Boot in the Washington Post — and, of course, lifting oil sanctions must qualify as more “pragmatic” than supporting freedom in Venezuela.
As this year ends, there will no doubt be a very good celebration in the Presidential Palace in Caracas. The lifting of U.S. sanctions has begun; the efficacy of oil-company lobbying on the Biden administration has been proved; and the regime has not had to make one single political concession to the democratic forces in the country. If getting “something for nothing” is the Maduro regime policy, it has much to celebrate. Spare a thought for those struggling to return democracy to Venezuela, who now know that, in the Biden White House and State Department, their own fate has been demoted to a far lower priority level than that of a few thousand barrels of oil.