Venezuela's Maduro meets U.S. senator after election, sanctions

[Devil Child]

Source: Reuters

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro met with U.S. Senator Bob Corker on Friday, the socialist-led government said, less than a week after Maduro was re-elected to a six-year term in a vote the United States did not recognize.

The election prompted a further deterioration in relations between the two countries. The United States responded to the vote, which it called undemocratic, with additional sanctions, prompting Venezuela to expel the top two U.S. diplomats posted in Caracas. The United States responded with a similar move.

“It was a very good meeting, it is good news for the Venezuelan people,” Venezuelan Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez told reporters, without providing details of what the officials discussed.

State television images showed Maduro and Corker, a Tennessee Republican and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, shaking hands in the Miraflores presidential palace, though neither offered statements to the media.


Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-usa-senator/venezuelas-maduro-meets-us-senator-after-election-sanctions-idUSKCN1IQ37G

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Corker on a strange and sudden trip to meet with Maduro. Apparently Rubio is having a slight temper tantrum on twitter.

[Hulk]

1. Dialogue beats the hell out of tweet threats...

When are we going to learn, our bullying and arm twisting isn't going to pay off with the rest of the world. We may not agree with Maduro, but cutting ties and placing restrictions on their people is just fueling the fire.

Don't care much for any repug, but I tip my hat to Corker for at least making an effort at diplomacy.

[LiberalLovinLug]

2. Your greater point is true

But we all know what would be the case if a Democrat met with him. Especially if D's were in power. It would be a week long story. But this will hardly get a bleep.

[Igel]

4. Yeah, the rhetoric would be the same.

Except that the (R) and (D) would be reversed.

For too many, it's not about principle, unless power is principle. But "power as morality" instead of "power used in a moral fashion" always struck me as immoral at best. (And by "always" I mean since before puberty, placing it back to the first years Nixon was in office or, more likely still, Johnson's administration.)

[Calista241]

3. He might have been sent there as well.

Sending a lawmaker carries a different message and connotations than sending an official from the state department.