Briefing

The White House and Maduro Confirm Their Meeting in Caracas

Among other news, The White House confirmed a meeting with Maduro’s regime in Caracas. Press secretary Jen Psaki said they discussed topics like energy security and the health of American prisoners.

Naky Soto
  • The White House confirmed a meeting with Maduro’s regime in Caracas. Press secretary Jen Psaki said they discussed topics like energy security and the health of American prisoners. Psaki didn’t say the names of people in the delegation.
    • According to Reuters, in order to substitute the oil coming from Russia, the Americans mentioned the possibility of sanction relief but the meeting didn’t take them very far, even though the meeting was requested by Maduro’s regime. 
    • The U.S. is allegedly trying to distance Venezuela from Moscow, establish guarantees for presidential elections and freedom for CITGO prisoners. Guaidó’s office confirmed they also had a meeting but didn’t reveal any details “for safety reasons.” 
  • Nicolás Maduro confirmed the meeting and called it “cordial, respectful and diplomatic.” Later, he said that, after evaluating what happens in Ukraine, his government is deeply concerned for the possibility of war in Europe that can expand throughout the world and that “the Venezuelan High Command has decided to warn people and leaders of the world to seek peace through political agreements between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Maduro asked for respect to humanitarian corridors and that he has decided to reactivate the dialogue with all political actors in the country: “We’re moving towards a reformatting of the national negotiation process, more inclusive, more welcoming, broader and more dynamic for an agreement between all sectors,” he said. 
  • Vice president Delcy Rodríguez said that the regime pushes for dialogue and peaceful means to solve the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. 
  • The Venezuelan Observatory of Finance reported that the basic food basket cost 1,633 bolivars or 353 dollars in February. The inflation rate for the month was 1.7%. 
  • At least 100 gas stations were authorized to sell gas at international prices, 0.5 per lt. and getting rid of the subsidies. 
  • FEDEAGRO president Celso Fantinel assured that the war can impact production: “16% of the world’s corn is produced there.” Venezuela depends on imports: in 2021, the country produced 800,000 T. of corn but Venezuela consumes 2.5 million T. per year. 
  • The National Journalists Guild (CNTP) reported that CONATEL ordered closing the Activa 89.3 FM radio station in El Tigre. Officers took the station’s equipment and computers. 
  • CONINDUSTRIA president Luigi Pisella welcomed the minimum wage increase but said it was insufficient and asked the regime for a meeting to debate the consequences. 
  • After the five-day blackout that started on March 7th, 2019, there have been 442,850 incidents in Venezuela, said Aixa López, president of the Comité de Afectados por los Apagones.
  • Guatemalan president Alejandro Giammattei assured that 95% of planes used to transport drugs to Central America and Mexico departing from Venezuela. 
  • The price of oil keeps increasing: Brent oil reached 123.21 dollars per barrel and Texas crude oil was 119.40 dollars per barrel. 
  • Maduro ordered the return of tolls. The toll station at Tazón, which was demolished because of a populist campaign in 2007, is being rebuilt. 
  • The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine will meet again on Thursday in Turkey. The EU asked the European Commission to take the first steps to adhere to Ukraine, Moldavia and Georgia. 
  • China said it can be the mediator in the conflict, without breaking rank with Russia. 
  • There are 1.73 million Ukrainian refugees, according to the UNHCR. 
  • Ukraine reported the death of 11,000 Russian soldiers and that they’ve destroyed 290 enemy tanks, 46 aircraft and 68 helicopters.
  •  Russia didn’t show up for the trial before the ICJ. 
  • The first volunteer foreigners started fighting for the International Legion today. Zelenskyy said that he doesn’t accept Moscow’s ultimatum and asked Putin to step outside his bubble and allow for dialogue. President Zelenskyy will be speaking before the British Parliament on Tuesday. 

 

Naky Soto

Naky gets called Naibet at home and at the bank. She coordinates training programs for an NGO. She collects moments and turns them into words. She has more stories than freckles.

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