Politics
Maduro may travel to Colombia despite U.S. reward for his capture
Maduro would go to Colombia in the coming weeks, despite the fact the of 15 million dollars reward from the United States Department of State on charges of narcoterrorism
April 14, 2023 8:57am
Updated: April 14, 2023 8:57am
Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro is considering travel to Colombia on April 25, where an international conference on Venezuela will be held in Bogotá, led by the government of Gustavo Petro, according to local media reports.
The Colombian president announced through his Twitter account that he had called an international meeting with the aim of establishing an effective political dialogue between the citizenry and the Venezuelan regime.
The initiative arose after several meetings between Petro and Maduro, since the former left-wing guerrilla assumed the presidency of Colombia. The most recent of these meetings took place on March 23 at the Aquiles Nazoa Cultural House.
Since he came to power, the Colombian president has sought to reestablish relations with the Chavista regime and is now trying to "promote political dialogue between the two nations."
The meeting scheduled for this month will be attended by high-level representatives of the United States, the European Union, foreign ministers of several Latin American countries, a representative of the Venezuelan regime and representatives of all tendencies of the opposition in the neighboring country, according to Colombian media reports.
Colombian Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva referred to the conference that Colombia will hold to mediate on Venezuela and said that it has not yet been decided that Maduro will attend Bogotá.
The United States, which has maintained a reward for Maduro's capture since 2020, will play an essential role in the normalization process and Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to confirm his attendance at the conference.
Maduro could travel to Colombia, but he faces a $15 million reward from the US State Department on narco-terrorism charges. Since then, Maduro has stayed away from the international scene and only participates in forums where he can guarantee his safety and impunity.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) also has a preliminary investigation open in 2018 into the actions of the security forces of the Venezuelan regime in the repression of the massive protests against Maduro a year earlier, in which some 100 people died.
