The US and Venezuela announced on Tuesday they would launch high-level diplomatic talks to ease tensions in the South American country amid a deepening humanitarian crisis. John Kerry, US secretary of state, said the talks with Washington’s ideological foe would begin “as soon as possible” in Caracas and that the US was looking at ways to provide assistance. The talks come as Venezuela sinks deeper into one of the worst social, economic and political crises of its 200-year history, and amid concerns within the international community about a broader societal breakdown. Mr Kerry said the talks would be led on the US side by Thomas Shannon, one of the state department’s leading officials and a veteran diplomat in Latin America. “Let’s see if we can improve the relationship,” Mr Kerry told reporters at a meeting of the Organisation of American States (OAS) in the Dominican Republic. A similar effort last year to reopen dialogue with Venezuela’s socialist government was called off.