Washington [US], June 9 (ANI): US President Joe Biden spoke with Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido and reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to calibrating sanctions on Caracas depending on how internal reform negotiations go in the country, the White House said on Wednesday.
“President Biden reaffirmed the United States is willing to calibrate sanctions policy as informed by the outcomes of negotiations that empower the Venezuelan people to determine the future of their country,” the White House said in a readout of the leaders’ call.
Guaido, whom the United States recognizes as the Interim President of Venezuela, was invited to attend events on the periphery of the Summit of the Americas, to which the Venezuelan government of Nicolas Maduro was not invited.
Biden in the call expressed his support for negotiations in Venezuela toward fair elections and a restoration of democratic institutions, according to the readout. Biden and Guaido discussed the role the US and others can play in supporting the negotiations, the readout added.
At the opening ceremony of the Summit of the Americas, Biden announced the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity. The White House has described this as a historic new agreement to drive the hemisphere’s economic recovery and growth, and deliver for the working people.
“Accounting for 31.9 % of global GDP, the Western Hemisphere is one of the most dynamic economic regions in the world, and the United States’ ties with the rest of the hemisphere are broad and deep,” the White House said.
Earlier this month, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro condemned the United States for excluding Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela from the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles of the US state of California.
Maduro expressed his government’s “firm, strong and total rejection of the imperialist vision that intends to exclude the peoples of the Americas” from a regional gathering.
Earlier, the US coordinator of the Americas Summit Kevin O’Reilly reiterated that the governments of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, all members of ALBA-TCP, had not been invited to participate in the meeting. (ANI)