Venezuela, US to establish bilateral dialogue

Caracas: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has put aside criticisms and announced a second attempt to re-establish diplomatic relations with the US, officials said.

The two nations have been without ambassadors in their respective capitals since 2010, EFE news reported.

After the Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez agreed to a bilateral dialogue with the US Secretary of State John Kerry last week, Maduro on Wednesday received the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon, at the Miraflores Palace, the headquarters of the Venezuelan Executive.

"The government of the US and the Bolivarian government of Venezuela decided to resume their agenda and to build the agenda with respect," Maduro said after the end of the meeting through the national radio and television networks.

The meeting, which lasted more than two hours, was held in private between the Venezuelan head of state and the senior US official, who arrived Tuesday in Caracas.

Maduro asked Shannon to send a message to US President Barack Obama regarding his policies towards the Caribbean country.

"I hope President Obama will rectify the position he has held in the last eight years against the Bolivarian revolution," he added.

This is not the first time that Shannon tried to promote a rapprochement between the White House and the Chavez government. He met in 2015 for similar purposes with a Venezuelan commission but the approach was dissolved soon after without any progress.