08.20.19: Agreement

In a rare display of agreement, Maduro confirmed comments today by United States President Donald Trump to the effect that the White House and Miraflores have been engaged in high-level talks for the last several months.

Speaking in a televised address, Maduro said that his regime has been in close contact with the White House “for months”, and that this contact involves “high-ranking officials” from both governments. Earlier in the day, Trump had said that the White House was in contact with “various representatives” from the Maduro regime. Trump also said:

I don’t want to say who, but we are talking at a very high level.

On the talks, Maduro said:

I can confirm that we’ve had contact for months with high-level officials from the United States government, Trump’s [government… under my express [and] direct authority…

Maduro also said that the point of these conversations with the White House was to “find a way to regulate this conflict” between Venezuela and the United States.

Maduro’s confirmation of contact with the Trump administration comes just days after a piece was published by the Associated Press claiming that Diosdado Cabello, the vice-president of the PSUV and Venezuela’s second most powerful man, had been having secret meetings with US officials since at least July of this year.

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Note: Due to an overwhelming amount of work, I was not able to dedicate as much time to today’s blog as I normally would.