US offering Maduro ‘amnesty’ – WSJ

The long-shot deal would reportedly involve Washington dropping narcotics charges against the Venezuelan president

American officials have offered to drop “narco-terrorism” charges against Nicolas Maduro if the Venezuelan president transfers power to his political opponents, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

Maduro defeated Western-backed opposition figure Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia by 51.2% to 44.2% in a presidential election last month, securing himself a third term in office. Gonzalez’s supporters, however, claim that the vote was rigged, and the US officially recognized Gonzalez as Venezuela’s president-elect earlier this month.

According to the Wall Street Journal’s sources, Washington is now attempting to persuade Maduro to cede power to Gonzalez. In secret talks with confidants of Maduro, the White House has offered to pardon the Venezuelan president and his allies, who are currently wanted in the US on drug charges.

American officials are also trying to convince Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia – whose leftist governments are seen as sympathetic to Caracas – to convince Maduro to accept the deal, the newspaper reported. Meanwhile, Gonzalez’s allies have also offered security guarantees to Maduro if he were to step down.

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The US Justice Department unsealed indictments against Maduro and more than a dozen Venezuelan political and military leaders in 2020, accusing them of “narco-terrorism,” and implicating them in a plot to “flood the United States with cocaine.” The State Department announced a $15 million reward for information leading to the arrest of the Venezuelan leader, and rewards of up to $10 million for each of his co-defendants.

The charges against Maduro came after previous attempts to dislodge him from power failed. Economic sanctions and veiled threats of military intervention from Washington were insufficient to break Maduro’s grip on power in 2018, while the US’ recognition of opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s ‘interim president’ in 2019 amounted to little more than a symbolic gesture, with Guaido currently living in exile in Miami.

With the Venezuelan military and security forces still loyal to Maduro, the WSJ’s sources conceded that the amnesty deal is unlikely to succeed. A similar deal was offered to Maduro during secret talks in Qatar last year, they said, adding that the Venezuelan leader refused to discuss any arrangement that would involve him leaving office.

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Maduro’s inauguration is scheduled for January. US officials involved in the secret talks told the WSJ that they hope to strike a deal before then, while the newspaper described the potential return of Donald Trump to the White House as a point of leverage that the US holds over Maduro.

Whereas Trump imposed heavy sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry and backed Guaido, President Joe Biden temporarily lifted these penalties last year. However, the WSJ’s sources believe that “Maduro mistrusts Washington, no matter who inhabits the White House.”

Maduro said at the beginning of this month that he is willing to restart sanctions-relief and prisoner-exchange talks with the US, on the condition that Washington “should stay out of Venezuela’s internal affairs.”