Leocenis García, coordinator of Pro-citizens, Shipping this Tuesday a letter to the president of the United States, Joe Biden, in which he asks him to change his strategy regarding Venezuela.
García maintained that the policy that the United States has promoted to deal with the crisis in Venezuela has not been successful. “Without a doubt, President, what the United States was doing was not working. You have had the courage to recognize that truth. A policy of isolation designed for the Cold War makes no sense in the 21st century. The sanctions only caused harm to the Venezuelan people instead of helping,” the letter says.
He further added: “Our past and present are intertwined. As well as our future. I know that on this solid basis of association we can approach the challenge of contributing to the pacification of the country, its full democratization, and pilgrimage back to the international community”.
Here the full letter:
His Excellency Joe Biden, President of the United States of America.
Dear Mr. President:
Along with greeting you, I want to clarify that I am writing this letter following having spoken with many of the protagonists who are mentioned in it.
Receive my recognition for your recent initiative to re-establish oil relations with Venezuela.
I congratulate the attempts to establish a route in this sense, attempted by the special envoys to Caracas, the esteemed ambassador Jame Story, Juan González, and Roger Dean Carsten.
Without a doubt, President, what the United States was doing was not working. You have had the courage to recognize that truth. A policy of isolation designed for the Cold War makes no sense in the 21st century. The sanctions only harmed the Venezuelan people instead of helping.
I understand that the attempts of your administration seek to normalize relations not with the Venezuelan government; The United States of America wants to normalize relations with the Venezuelan people.
Our past and present are intertwined, as is our future. I know that on this solid basis of association we can approach the challenge of contributing to the pacification of the country, its full democratization, and pilgrimage back to the international community.
After Venezuela seceded from Colombia in 1830, the United States recognized and established diplomatic relations with Venezuela in 1835, granting an exequatur to Nicholas DC Moller as Venezuelan consul in New York.
That has been a beneficial relationship for both countries ever since, which in 2019 allowed for the following:
Venezuela was the 72nd largest goods export market for the United States in 2019. US goods exports to Venezuela in 2019 were $1.3 billion.
I know firsthand the complications that have occurred in the recent talks between Washington and Caracas. For which I allow myself, following talking with various sectors of the Government of Venezuela, as well as several interested in the US in improving relations between both countries, for example, congressmen, members of the State Department, and thinkers of the main Tanks of Washington Thoughts, suggest this pragmatic, cold, and reasonable route that would help move forward:
1.- It is necessary to expand in both countries, the interlocutors, with spokespersons, who enjoy mutual sympathy in both countries, something that is not being fulfilled with the current delegation. On the side of the United States Government, my recommendation is to include Governor Bill Richardson, former US representative to the United Nations, due to his extensive experience in negotiations such as those in Burma in February 1994, where he influenced the release of the Nobel Prize winner. Peace San Suu Kyi. In 1994 he was one of the unofficial emissaries in Haiti who negotiated the surrender of rebel general Raoul Cendras. Amen that in 1995, Richardson participated in a mission to Baghdad where he negotiated with Saddam Hussein the release of two US workers captured following they inadvertently crossed the border from Kuwait. Recently, a couple of months ago, the authorities of Burma (Myanmar) have released the American journalist Danny Fenster, due to the efforts of former US Governor Bill Richardson. Additionally, Maduro respects him, and Richardson, due to his particularity of being the son of an Anglo-Saxon and a Mexican, speaks English and Spanish equally well. He is a perfect interlocutor, because he knows the Latin culture well. In addition, Roger Dean Carsten, the State Department’s envoy for hostage cases, has worked on past cases with Richardson and the two have mutual respect. On the other hand, Rafael Lacava, personal friend of Maduro, governor of Carabobo state, should be on the side of the Government, helped with the release of American Joshua Holt, graduated as an economist from the Andrés Bello Catholic University and a specialist in tax management from the National School of Public Finance. He also lived in Manhattan, and studied at Rutgers University in New Jersey in the United States. He is not a communist.
2.- It is necessary to exchange hostages, freeing several Americans and Venezuelans at the same time. In this sense, the broad negotiation must deal with all the American hostages who are in Venezuela, and the American basketball player Brittney Griner who was sentenced in a Russian court to 9 years in prison, a case that has raised tensions due to the so-called “hostage diplomacy”. » between Washington and Moscow, the main ally of the Maduro government. This is so that the exchange request that the Venezuelan authorities make regarding the Colombian citizen Alex Saab be considered, who in a practical way at this point has already said what he might say, to American authorities. The important thing for the authorities is Alex Saab’s information, not him as a person.
A precedent for this negotiation, and one that undermines the premise that the White House cannot intervene in Justice Department issues, is that, in October 2021, without notifying Mexico in advance, US officials arrested General Cienfuegos. following he disembarked from a plane in Los Angeles. Prosecutors accused Cienfuegos of accepting bribes to work directly for a drug cartel, guarding their drug shipments, alerting them to members of their ranks who were informants for the United States, and introducing them to other officials willing to receive payments in exchange for cooperation. The Mexican government fought to the letter for the future of Cienfuegos and following a political agreement between President López Obrador and Donald Trump, in an unusual capitulation, William Barr, the former US Attorney General, relented and Cienfuegos, who was detained on charges of drug trafficking in the US, was quickly shipped back to Mexico.
3-It is necessary to advance beyond the expectations of Florida: There are less than a hundred days left for the crucial mid-term elections in the United States. His result will mark the second half of his term as president and the future of the country until 2024. As you know, it is very likely that the Democratic Party will lose the elections in Florida. Advancing on the Venezuela issue will not affect it at all. On the contrary, it might lead him to present the political triumph of the release of hostages in Venezuela and Russia, as well as the source of energy supply, amid high fuel prices.
4.-The US must stop its rhetoric around the interim government of Juan Guaidó, accused of as many corruption crimes as the Maduro government, and open the embassy in Venezuela, so that the political section can help unify the democratic opposition. The interim presidency is an abstraction without content that will no longer be able to promote any transition to democracy: a pipe dream that is only justified to maintain jobs and guarantee the salaries of the personnel that occupies it, punctuated by accusations of administrative irregularities. But, despite the pessimism, disinterest and emotional distance that is also experienced in part, the US is trapped in the dilemma that there is no strategic approach with which to replace it. And this can only be done by uniting the various sectors of the opposition: Democratic Alliance, Democratic Unity Roundtable, Pro-Citizens, etc., since the enthusiasm of the citizens has cooled; critics increase within their own ranks; It lacks the instruments to confront Chavismo and faces accusations of mishandling the resources administered by the interim government. He also looks particularly exposed to the official judicial apparatus.
5.-Involve the OAS, I recently sent a message to the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, regarding the return of Venezuela, although the President gave me a not-so-encouraging response, I think we have to continue working, especially now that the Secretary General , Luis Almagro, has reversed his position and proposes dialogue as the “only hope” that fate will be different and “not make the mistakes of the past.” According to Almagro, previous dialogue processes reflect an opposition intent on removing Maduro from power, an objective that, he believes, “was probably not the most viable, or achievable, or realistic.” Given this political reality, Almagro seems to be pointing towards a more viable solution in Venezuela by accepting that power is being held by Chavismo and that it does not seem that there may be any change in that panorama in the near future.
President, I end this letter thinking of Francisco de Miranda, one of our Precursors, whose presence in the United States marked his dreams for the liberation of Venezuela.
God bless your government and America.
