Tensions over Venezuela eased with deal
U.S., troubled nation agree not to expel diplomats for 30 days as pressure builds on Maduro
CARACAS — The standoff between the United States and Venezuela was temporarily defused after the two countries reached an agreement late Saturday that allowed both to keep diplomats in each other’s capitals for 30 days while seeking a broader accord on migration and bilateral issues.
If no deal is reached at the end of that period, the Venezuelans said, U.S. diplomats remaining in Caracas would need to leave within 72 hours.
The resolution came after a morning of heated clashes at the United Nations between the United States and Russia — a longtime Venezuelan ally — over the Trump administration’s call for Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro to step down. European nations threatened to join Washington and leave the socialist leader increasingly isolated.
Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Britain gave Maduro eight days to call new elections, vowing that otherwise they would back Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president now supported by the United States and a host of Latin American countries.
“No more delays, no more games,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a relatively rare appearance at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council called by the United States. “Either you stand with the forces of freedom, or you’re in league with Maduro and his mayhem.”
In a blow to the government and a sign of military unease, Col. José Luis Silva, the military attaché at the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, on Saturday broke with Maduro and recognized Guaidó.
In a telephone interview from Washington, he said he refused the government’s order for Venezuelan diplomats to return to Caracas, and he issued a call for others in the military to follow suit.
“The Venezuelan armed forces are on a roller coaster,” he said.
“There’s absolute discontent. Soldiers don’t have enough money to feed their families. There’s a higher chance than ever that some will rise up.”
The bid to topple Maduro has been remarkable for its speed and force. But in Venezuela, opponents and the West face a complex challenge in confronting not just a man, but what critics call a criminal empire.
Unlike North Korea’s Kim Jong Un or Syria’s Bashar Assad, Maduro is not a oneman cult or clan leader. Rather, he rules as the public face of an omnipotent political class accused of immense corruption and narco-trafficking.