Biden’s Venezuela Policy: Something for Nothing

How long will it take before administration officials realize they’ve been had?

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Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro addresses the media from the Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, November 30, 2022.

Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters

On 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.”

Elliott Abrams

About the Author

Elliott Abrams

Elliott Abrams is a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and served in the Reagan, George W. Bush, and Trump administrations.

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