Trump Envoy Meets Maduro in Push for Venezuelan Deportations

(Bloomberg) -- An adviser for President Donald Trump met with President Nicolas Maduro in a bid to get Venezuela to accept deportation flights carrying gang members and to secure the release of American prisoners.

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Richard Grenell, Trump’s envoy for special missions, planned to advocate for the swift release of American prisoners during his visit but his number one goal was to ensure that repatriation flights carrying Tren de Aragua gang members “who have broken our nation’s laws will land in Venezuela,” said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.

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The trip set up a potential clash with Maduro, whose government has refused to accept deportation flights from the US for about a year. But he may also use the visit as an opportunity to push for easing US sanctions that have crippled his economy, including the oil sector.

The two met men at the presidential palace in Caracas on Friday afternoon, according to Venezuelan state media, which added that Maduro sought to revise proposals for the relationship between the two countries “in an consensual, no imposed” manner.

Maduro will seek to use the encounter with Grenell to restart talks with the US “from zero,” state media said. The most recent attempt to reach a compromise between the US and Venezuela failed after the Biden administration refused to lift all sanctions as agreed, Maduro has said. Biden officials said Maduro stole the nation’s most recent election.

A possible enticement Grenell has to offer Maduro is the extension of a US license allowing Chevron Corp. to operate, the only US oil producer left in Venezuela, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting. As Maduro begins his third term, the oil industry is the main driver keeping Venezuela’s economy afloat.

But that could face resistance from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said earlier this month that the US should reconsider Chevron’s sanctions waiver, saying it provides “billions of dollars of money into the regime’s coffers.”

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Trump told reporters on Friday evening he wasn’t concerned that images of Grenell shaking hands with Maduro would legitimize the Venezuelan leader.

“We want to do something with Venezuela,” Trump said, adding that he planned to “straighten out” the situation. He also insinuated that he could limit Venezuelan oil imports. “Biden went out and they buy millions of barrels of oil. I say, what’s that all about? So we’re not going to let that stupid stuff happen,” he added.

Venezuelan bonds jumped across the curve, with sovereign notes gaining more than half a cent on Friday. Notes maturing in 2027 advanced 0.9 cents to trade above 19 cents on the dollar, the highest levels since late July, according to indicative pricing data compiled by Bloomberg.

Sanctions, Bounty

The meetings came at a tense time in relations between Washington and Caracas. Maduro, who has ruled Venezuela since 2013, recently got sworn in amid widespread evidence of election fraud. In addition to sanctioning him and several top officials, former President Joe Biden also raised a bounty to $25 million for information leading to Maduro’s arrest on narcotics trafficking charges.

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Maduro survived the first Trump administration’s maximum pressure strategy, even as it curbed the nation’s oil exports, and also outlasted an effort by Biden officials to facilitate free and fair elections. Some key Trump advisers have advocated for a return to the more aggressive posture.

Mauricio Claver-Carone, special envoy to Latin America, told reporters Friday that Grenell’s visit is “not a quid pro quo, it’s not a negotiation in exchange for anything,” and that Trump has said the US doesn’t need to buy Venezuela’s oil.

“The meeting represents a victory for Maduro and slight to Venezuelan opposition leaders, who have urged the US to avoid any moves that would legitimize Maduro,” Eurasia Group analyst Risa Grais-Targow wrote in a note. However, “there are clear divisions within the Trump administration when it comes to Venezuela, with Grenell and oil-specific interests keener for engagement.”

At least seven Americans have been arrested in Venezuela since the July presidential vote, accused of being involved in conspiracies against the Maduro government, including an attempt to kill him and other authorities.

The last US delegation visit to Caracas took place in 2023, led by Biden’s Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, Roger Carstens, who secured a prisoner swap in which Venezuela freed 10 Americans and handed over a defense contractor, while the US released a Maduro ally.

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During Trump’s first term, Grenell also played a behind-the-scenes role in delicate talks with Maduro allies in a bid to negotiate the leader’s peaceful exit from power.

--With assistance from Andreina Itriago Acosta, Nicolle Yapur, Julia Leite and Justin Sink.

(Updates with Trump remarks, in eighth paragraph.)

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