Caracas, May 27 (IANS): Venezuela has opened talks with a special envoy of US President Barack Obama and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says the dialogue is "going well".
Maduro said he hoped the talks would not be sabotaged by terrorists in Venezuela or far-rightists in the US, Spanish news agency Efe reported on Wednesday.
Speaking by telephone to state channel VTV, Maduro said this line of communication was established in April at the 7th Summit of the Americas where the presidents of the two countries met briefly.
"I greeted President Obama, we greeted each other, we talked and from there we established a mechanism for talks, based on respect, equality between our two countries, and respect for international law, to regularise our relations," Maduro said.
He cautioned that many people opposed reconciliation which might lead to normal, stable, one-on-one relations between Venezuela and the US.
Maduro singled out for attention “the far-right terrorist” who, he said, was always hopeful of a huge conflict with the US, to provoke Washington to intervene in Venezuela and, with all its power, harm Venezuela.
Tensions between Venezuela and the US have thawed slightly since April when US State Department counsellor Thomas Shannon began a series of visits to Caracas.
Shannon's meeting with Maduro on his first visit to Venezuela was pivotal in reducing tensions between the two countries prior to the Americas Summit in the days that followed.
Tensions between Washington and Caracas increased markedly after a decree signed in March by President Obama declared Venezuela to be a "threat" to US national security and sanctioned a group of top Venezuelan officials for human rights violations.
On April 21, Roberta Jacobson, the top State Department official for Latin America, said the US was open to considering Venezuela's proposal to make Maximilian Arvelaez, current Venezuelan charge d'affaires in the US capital, its ambassador to the US.
However, she warned that the White House was not willing to discuss lifting sanctions on several Venezuelan officials, including a freeze on assets held in US jurisdiction.