Representatives from the Biden Administration met this Monday with the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, a key regional ally of the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, to ask him to be the intermediary between the opposition leader María Corina Machado and the Chavista regime, as reported by the Colombian magazine Semana.
At the meeting, according to the Colombian authorities, those present were Jonathan Finer, Deputy National Security Advisor of the United States; the White House advisor for the Western Hemisphere, Juan Gonzalez; the director of the Department of the Presidency of the Republic of Colombia, Carlos Ramon Gonzalez, and Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
This meeting had been announced two days ago in a Bloomberg report, which announced Washington's intentions for Petro to address his counterpart Maduro to soften the regime's position on Machado.
The actions occurred after the Biden Administration, in an election year in Venezuela, threatened the Chavista regime with revoking the partial relief of oil sanctions after the signing of an electoral agreement in Barbados that the Maduro dictatorship clearly failed to comply with after politically disqualifying the leader of the Venezuelan opposition.
"U.S. officials, Brian Nichols of the State Department and Juan González, the National Security Council's senior director for the Western Hemisphere, said their goal is not to reimpose sanctions," reads the Bloomberg article, citing people familiar with the intentions of the Biden Administration. "Instead, they want to foster conditions for a fair and competitive election that includes Maduro and the opposition."
For Washington, Petro's role is fundamental. Since he came to power in 2022, he has become an essential geopolitical ally for Maduro, with whom he shares ideological affinities. He has also negotiated several milestones, such as reopening borders between both countries.
In fact, it is strange that Washington requests the help of Petro, a former M-19 guerrilla and fierce critic of the United States as a power.
On several occasions, the Colombian president criticized the United States for its foreign policy and its fight against drug trafficking.
According to Petro, the United States has failed in its fight against drugs because it has not been able to end violence or addiction either in the region or within its borders. Even so, the president has maintained a cordial atmosphere with Joe Biden.
Likewise, Petro's position on Venezuela is problematic since even media related to the president - such as El País of Spain—have criticized the Colombian president for remaining silent about the unjust disqualification of Corina Machado. Petro is a president who regularly uses his account on X to give his opinion and position himself on the various geopolitical and internal conflicts in practically the entire world.
The meeting between Biden's representatives and Petro has been harshly questioned by Republican politicians, including Marco Rubio, a senator from Florida, who is considered a key ally of the Venezuelan opposition and an opponent of the authoritarian regimes in the region.
"Another feasible test that shows how Biden's government policy towards LATAM is a shame," Rubio wrote on X (Twitter). "What is the logic of asking the former M-19 guerrilla, and Maduro's comrade, for help to be a 'mediator' with the Venezuelan opposition when we all know which side he is on?"
Otra prueba factible que evidencia cómo la política del gobierno Biden hacia LATAM es una vergüenza.
¿Cuál es la lógica de pedirle ayuda al exguerrillero del M-19, y camarada de Maduro, para que sea ‘mediador’ con la oposición venezolana cuando todos sabemos de cuál lado está? https://t.co/XWXpl8KENe
— Senator Marco Rubio (@SenMarcoRubio) February 5, 2024
