The prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, a longtime ally of Venezuela’s leftist president Nicolas Maduro, says Venezuela wants good relations with the US administration.
Gonsalves made the statement at the Argyle International Airport on Wednesday, February 8, following his return from the South American nation.
“The Bolivian Republic of Venezuela is very much interested in having good relations with the United States of America. Those relations are to be in dignity, in self-respect, for them to have dialogue without preconditions, conversations that will strengthen rather than weaken the hemisphere, and for us to have global peace, security, and prosperity for all,” the St. Vincent leader said.
The relationship between the U.S. and Venezuela has been tense at least since 1999, when Hugo Chavez, a former military officer and socialist firebrand, took power after winning the country’s presidential election and promising to make big changes.
Maduro, who took over the country when Chavez died in 2013, made opposition to the U.S. a signature element of their foreign policy, including, in Chavez’s case, after a failed 2002 coup attempt against him that some observers contended Washington was slow to condemn.
Recent minor changes in the relationship between the United States and Venezuela may signal that a greater degree of engagement between the two countries is possible in 2023.
St. Vincent and Venezuela have a shared history and culture that goes back hundreds of years. However, it wasn’t until October 29, 1981, that the two governments exchanged style notes to cement their relationship.
