WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration on Tuesday called for a power-sharing transitional government in Venezuela made up of the opposition and some members of President Nicolas Maduro’s Socialist Party, and laid out for the first time how U.S. sanctions might be lifted, including on the vital oil sector.
FILE PHOTO: Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a news conference at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, March 12, 2020. REUTERS/Manaure Quintero
With the South American nation squeezed by a U.S. economic pressure campaign, low world oil prices and a spreading coronavirus pandemic, Washington unveiled a more toned-down approach aimed at promoting fair elections this year to end the political crisis there, U.S. officials said.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was due to formally announce the administration’s “Democratic Transition Framework” for Venezuela, which, according to a document seen by Reuters, offers a detailed, “sequenced exit path” from tough U.S. sanctions if Maduro and his allies cooperate.
But it will be no easy task to draw Maduro, who holds onto power despite escalation of U.S. efforts to oust him and has showed no willingness to end his rule, onto a path of political reconciliation.
The initiative comes less than a week after the U.S. government took a more confrontational tack, indicting Maduro and more than a dozen other current and former top Venezuelan officials on charges of “narco-terrorism,” accusations he dismissed as false and racist.
Maduro’s staying power has become a source of frustration for President Donald Trump, U.S. officials have said privately. Maduro retains the backing of the military as well as Russ