CARACAS, February 25. /TASS/. A meeting between Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and US President Donald Trump would help resolve the political crisis in Venezuela, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said in an interview with "Democracy Now!" broadcast.
A meeting between Maduro and Trump "would resolve everything, because Maduro is the head of state in Venezuela and Trump is the boss of the opposition in Venezuela," the minister said. "Why don’t they meet?" he wondered.
At the same time Arreaza said "we must sit down with the opposition as well". However, he said such dialogue was unlikely because of the US White House’s position preventing the opposition from negotiations with Maduro.
Political crisis in Venezuela
On January 23 Venezuelan National Assembly Speaker Juan Guaido proclaimed himself as the country's acting president. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has described it as a coup attempt and announced severing diplomatic relations with the United States. On January 28 the US imposed sancitons on Venezuela's state-owned PDVSA oil company.
Guaido was recognized as interim president by the Lima Group countries (except for Mexico), as well as by Albania, Georgia, the United States, and the Organization of American States. Several EU countries came forward with support for the Venezuelan parliament and expressed hope for new elections to resolve the crisis. Maduro was supported by Russia, Bolivia, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Turkey. Belarus and China called for resolving all issues by peaceful means and spoke against any interference from the outside. The UN secretary general called for dialogue to resolve the crisis.
