Maduro: Venezuela ready to boost diplomatic ties with the US

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Nicolas Maduro, the president of Venezuela, has confirmed that his government is ready to develop the process of normalizing political and diplomatic relations with the US. 

In a Sunday interview with journalist Ignacio Ramonet, Maduro stated: "Venezuela is prepared, fully prepared, to take steps towards a process of normalization and regulation of diplomatic, consular, and political relations with this US government and with the government that may come."

Relations were severed in 2019 after the US decided to acknowledge Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the interim president rather than Maduro, which led the US to impose sanctions on Venezuela's oil and financial industries.

Opposition ousts Guaido

Contacts were partially reestablished in March 2022 when a delegation sent by US President Joe Biden arrived in the Latin American nation to negotiate the issue of oil supplies with Maduro, following the sanctions imposed by the West against Russia for the war in Ukraine. 

In the newest updates, on Friday, the Venezuelan opposition backed the removal of the self-proclaimed "interim government" that Guaido headed since 2019. 

According to US media reports, during a meeting with US State Department representatives in October, the Venezuelan opposition stated that it would not support Guaido's "interim government" and was considering distancing itself from him.

Venezuela was thrown into a political crisis in January 2019 when Juan Guaido, the former head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, backed by the US, declared himself interim president in an attempt to depose re-elected President Nicolas Maduro.