In the first diplomatic contact between the U.S. and Venezuela since Trump, Biden dispatched a diplomatic mission to meet with President Maduro in early March 2022. The mission was among the first signs that President Biden is beginning to warm up to the idea of renewing America’s relationship with Venezuela. There is growing speculation as to whether or not the United States should or is ready to lift harsh sanctions against Venezuela. When President Joe Biden won the 2020 U.S. presidential election, a wave of optimism washed over Latin America. Many in the region saw Biden’s rhetoric on closer relations between the U.S. and regional governments as a sign of a thaw after an adversarial four years under President Donald Trump. The expected re-engagement with Latin America, notably Venezuela a near-failed state suffering from the world’s worst peacetime economic and humanitarian crises, did not eventuate. This was especially disappointing […]