Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday (September 27) he is hopeful for improved relations with the United States, a day after meeting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
Maduro met Kerry in Colombia’s coastal city of Cartagena after the signing of a major peace deal between leftist guerrillas and the Colombian government.
“I ask God to bless the results of the meeting, and for Venezuela to open a new era of good relations with the United States. Do we have problems? Conflicts? Differences? Of course. Will we continue having them? Of course, if you don’t meddle here, we won’t meddle there,” Maduro said during his weekly hours-long show on state television, adding that the pair spoke for 40 minutes.
The two countries have had rocky relations since Hugo Chavez became president in 1999 and Venezuela replaced Cuba as Washington’s primary irritant in the region.
Venezuela is going through a major economic crisis, with inflation in triple digits and many complaining of hunger.
The U.S. government said Kerry spoke with Maduro about Venezuela’s “economic and political challenges,” urging him to work with the country’s opposition.
U.S. Republican candidate Donald Trump said in July that the United States would “end up being Venezuela” if his rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, were to win the White House in November’s vote.
Maduro has in the past called Trump a “bandit and thief.”
But he expressed hope for whoever the next president is.
“I have wanted, and I want the best relations of respect and dialogue with Barack Obama as president of the United States, and with the president, or the madame president, who comes after, whether it’s him or her,” Maduro said.
The Venezuelan president added that veteran U.S. diplomat Tom Shannon, who has been the U.S. point man for the troubled relationship, will visit Caracas again soon and that an invitation was open to Kerry.
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