MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Incipient political dialogue between US and Venezuela

Top diplomats from Venezuela and United States held talks aimed at improving relations, discussing a possible visit to Caracas by Washington's leading envoy for the Americas. Relations between the two countries have been tense for years.

The U.S. government accuses President Hugo Chavez of being a threat to stability in Latin America, and the Venezuelan leader is constantly criticizing U.S. "imperialism" under President George Bush. But Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro and Thomas Shannon, the top U.S. diplomat for the Americas, held a "very cordial" meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Monday, Venezuela's foreign ministry said in a statement. Shannon pointed out he was interested in visiting Venezuela. Monday's private meeting was the first between Maduro and Shannon, who according to the statement also discussed efforts by Chavez to broker a deal for the release of rebel-held hostages in Colombia, including three US citizens. Last month, Chavez made a rare overture to Bush, asking for support for his mediation efforts between Colombia's largest rebel group and the U.S.-backed government of President Alvaro Uribe. Despite deep political differences, the U.S. government has generally sought a pragmatic relationship with Venezuela, which remains a major source of US crude oil imports. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a September 25 interview with the New York Post's editorial board, said Washington is addressing the issue of Chavez's influence in Latin America by toning down the rhetoric and focusing on US efforts to improve social conditions in the region. "The way that we've chosen to deal with this is to spend almost as little time as possible in talking about Chavez and more time talking about our positive agenda for Latin America," Rice said. "It's making a difference". President Chavez, in spite of some incidents with several South American leaders, has always received full support from the rest of the continent because even with serious governance shortcomings and abundant handouts of oil dollars, the Venezuelan president has repeatedly proven with ballots and public opinion polls that he masters a majority support. Despite earlier US efforts, South American presidents have stood up and publicly and privately spoken in support of President Chavez and Venezuelan democracy, even before US President Bush.