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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro (right) shaking hands with US Special Envoy for Special Missions Richard Grenell (left), while Venezuelan National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez looks on, Miraflores Palace, Caracas, January 31, 2025. Photo: Presidential Press.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—On Friday afternoon, Richard Grenell, US President Donald Trump’s special presidential envoy for special missions, landed at the Simón Bolívar International Airport, Caracas, flying from Washington DC aboard a US Air Force Boeing C-40B. Grenell met Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro at Office No.1 of Miraflores Palace, seat of the Venezuelan presidency. President Maduro was accompanied by First Lady and Deputy Cilia Flores and the Venezuelan chief negotiator and President of the National Assembly Jorge Rodríguez.
Earlier, on Thursday, January 30, Grenell posted on social media a photo of a meeting he had with President Trump. “Just left an Oval meeting with President Donald Trump. He’s focused on what’s best for America and the American people,” wrote the diplomat. He arrived in Caracas one day before the newly appointed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio began a Central America tour that will take him to Panamá, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, y Dominican Republic.
Many analysts have raised concerns about the contradictions between the “maximum pressure” approach represented by Rubio, a rabid anti-communist operator, in perfect alignment with Venezuela’s far-right opposition, and a more pragmatic approach represented by Grenell as a direct representative of Trump. Some former Trump officials associated with Trump’s Venezuela policy during his first term have written in their memoirs that Trump lost confidence in the Venezuelan far-right opposition and began to recognize the strength of Chavismo and the Maduro administration by the end of his first term.
In 2020, during Trump’s last months as president, Grenell met with Jorge Rodríguez in Mexico city. According to US sources, the meeting had been arranged without the knowledge of John Bolton and Mike Pompeo. A few months ago, President Maduro noted during a speech that he though that this meeting was well directed and that he had been optimistic about its posible outcomes at that time. Negotiations where halted after Trump’s defeat in the 2020 US presidential elections.
During her regualr White House press conference, US Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Grenell’s meeting with President Maduro was exclusively intended to coordinate the repatriation of Tren de Aragua gang members jailed in the US as well as the return of US nationals imprisoned for their involvement in destabilization and terrorist plots as reported by the Venezuelan judiciary. Leavitt added that the meeting did not imply a recognition of Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela.
Experts explained to Orinoco Tribune that in state affairs, actions speak louder than words. Thus, despite Leavitt’s aforementioned statement, the meeting sends a strong signal of tacit recognition of President Nicolás Maduro as well as a possible victory of a realpolitik appoach in contrast with the “maximum pressure.”
Geoff Ramsey, former director of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and rabid anti-Chavista, wrote on these contradictions: “It’s impossible to overstate the significance of Trump choosing Venezuela as the first country in the region to receive his administration, as I told the Washington Post. At least for now, policy looks *very* far from the 2019 pressure campaign.”
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Early on Friday, the Venezuelan Minister for Information and Communication Freddy Ñáñez confirmed the reports, first spread by CNN citing White House sources, about the meeting. He explained that the initiative came after a formal request from the White House was accepted by President Maduro, on the condition that all upcoming meetings should not be secret and should be based on respect without impositions. President Maduro explained that these new negotiations will be based on a “zero agenda” methodology.
Despite the White House’s claims that only two issues were on the agenda, the Venezuelan government issued a statement after the meeting, stating that several issues had been discussed.
“The meeting was held within the framework of mutual respect, addressing various issues of interest for both countries, including migration, the negative impact of economic sanctions against Venezuela, US citizens involved in criminal offenses within Venezuelan territory, and the integrity of Venezuela’s political system. The need to shift the course of relations was also reaffirmed,” reads part of the statement.
However, Mauricio Claver-Carone, newly appointed US Department of State special envoy for Latin America, who was involved in multiple scandals during President Trump’s first term, and who is infamous for his anti-Cuba, anti-Venezuela and anti-Nicaragua stance, made statements trying to present a counter narrative to Grenell’s visit to Venezuela.
Later on Friday night, a photo was released on social media platforms showing Grenell in a US plane on its way back to the US, being accompanied by six individuals, allegedly US nationals incarcerated in Venezuela due to their involvement in terrorist plots. The Venezuelan government has not made comments on this development yet.
“Breaking. Ric Grenell, Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions, is returning to the United States with six US citizens who were detained in Venezuela. I believe that before this trip ten US citizens were being detained,” wrote HuffPost contributor Yashar Ali on social media along with a photo.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/JRE/SC
