2023-04-21 21:47
Source: Global InfoBroadcast
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On April 20, local time, US President Biden met with visiting Colombian President Petro in Washington.
According to US media reports, Biden said during the meeting that "Colombia is the key to the Western Hemisphere" to bring relations with the country closer.
In addition, the Venezuelan issue was an important topic in the talks. Biden said that the United States is willing to conditionally further ease sanctions against Venezuela.
Just a day before the meeting between the two presidents, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that it would extend the protection of licenses for some bond trading related to Petroleos Venezuela until July 20.
Screenshot of the Los Angeles Times report [The title picture shows Biden (second from right) meeting with Colombian President Petro (second from left)]
Sun Yanfeng, deputy director of the Latin America Institute of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, analyzed in an interview with the Global Information Broadcast reporter of the headquarters that the relevant measures taken by the United States against Venezuela are based on its own interests, and the actions taken to deal with the energy crisis and achieve geopolitical goals do not represent a substantial change in the US policy position on Venezuela.
Colombia will host an international conference on Venezuela next week, so it is expected that Colombian President Petro will discuss Venezuela with the United States during his visit to the United States.
For Colombia, the importance of Venezuela is self-evident. Colombia and Venezuela have a border of nearly 2,000 kilometers, and there are 3-4 million residents living in the border area, and the economic and trade exchanges and the flow of people between the two sides are very frequent. At the same time, because of Petro's left-wing background, he has very close political ties to Venezuela. In view of this, Pedro hopes that the United States will ease its economic sanctions, diplomatic sanctions and financial blockade against Venezuela.
But judging by the attitude of the United States towards Venezuela, it will be a long time before sanctions are eased. On the one hand, the United States is now in a very awkward position. Trump-era sanctions on Venezuela have not had the effect they should; At the same time, the original interests of the United States in Venezuela, including the investment interests of American oil companies in the Venezuelan oil industry, have not been guaranteed. So for its part, the United States is considering whether to ease sanctions against Venezuela.
Coupled with the rise in global oil prices in the context of the energy crisis, the United States also needs to fill the gap in Russian oil with Venezuelan oil. In addition, Venezuela is an important strategic ally of Russia in the Western Hemisphere. The United States hopes to force Venezuela to be cautious in its relationship with Russia by lifting the blockade card.
Screenshot of the Wall Street Journal report
Not long ago, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Venezuela. Lavrov said that Russia shared its experience with Venezuela to get rid of the influence of Western sanctions.
Sun Yanfeng analyzed that if Russia strengthens cooperation with Latin American countries, the United States will encounter great resistance.
The countries visited by Lavrov on his trip to Latin America include Brazil, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, all of which are strategic allies of Russia in Latin America. Therefore, Russia wants to further strengthen relations with these countries to ease diplomatic pressure.
There is also speculation that Russia wants to warn the United States by making friends with countries that have tense relations: If you put pressure on my border, then I can also put pressure on your southern border.
From Venezuela's perspective, one of the main points of talks with Russia is how to circumvent U.S. sanctions. Russia will cooperate and exchange with Venezuela in the fields of finance and energy, which is like a "thorn in the side" for the United States.
Screenshot of the Wall Street Journal report
Source丨Global Information Radio "Live World"
Reporters from the main station丨Chen Wei Zhang Yun
Editor丨Lin Wei
Li Peng and Jiang Aimin