Trudeau Envoy Presses Cuba to Mediate in Venezuelan Stalemate

(Bloomberg) -- Justin Trudeau’s top diplomat struck an optimistic tone after talks in Havana over the crisis in Venezuela, despite Cuba’s unwavering support for Nicolas Maduro’s regime in Caracas.

Wednesday’s trip to the island by Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland marked her third round of face-to-face talks with her Cuban counterpart since Canada began pushing, in concert with the U.S. and a group of Latin American nations, for Maduro to cede power amid economic collapse and the resulting migrant crisis.

Venezuela was high on the agenda when Freeland hosted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Ottawa last week. But she didn’t bring any specific message to Havana on behalf of the U.S., according to a Canadian government official who spoke on condition of anonymity about the private discussions.

Freeland said she and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez shared their “different perspectives on the crisis in Venezuela, and expressed hope that a path forward can be found,” according to a statement form her office Wednesday evening. They also agreed “senior officials would stay in contact and continue to exchange views, in order to be as helpful as possible.”

The Cuban government also issued a public statement on the discussions, with Rodriguez striking a similarly diplomatic tone on Twitter even as he stressed Havana’s “invariable solidarity” with its increasingly beleaguered ally in Caracas.

The Trump administration blames the Cuban communist government of Miguel Diaz-Canel for propping up Maduro, accusing it of infiltrating Venezuela’s military and intelligence apparatus -- an accusation Havana denies, despite the eyewitness accounts from torture victims and military defectors. The White House has been tightening sanctions on both nations, in part with an eye to winning votes among exile communities in Florida.

“Cuba is a key stakeholder in determining whether Maduro remains in power,” James Bosworth, a political consultant and author of the Latin America Risk Report newsletter, said by phone Tuesday from Bogota. “It absolutely makes sense for governments that care about Venezuela’s future to negotiate directly with the Diaz-Canel administration in Havana.”

The head of the U.S. section at the Cuban foreign ministry said in May his government is willing to help negotiate a peaceful end to the crisis so long as Maduro is at the table. And with Cuba’s centralized economy teetering under the combined effects of a U.S. ban on cruise-ship travel, lawsuits over confiscated property and reduced shipments of subsidized oil from Venezuela, it’s likely the government would want some measure of relief from sanctions in exchange for its cooperation.

Requests for comment from Cuban officials in Ottawa, New York and Havana weren’t immediately returned before Wednesday’s talks.

“Cuba and the United States cannot have a productive conversation about Venezuela,” Mark Entwistle, a former Canadian ambassador to Cuba who now advises multinational companies on doing business there, said from Toronto. “But the Cubans seem to be open to Canada playing some kind of intermediary role, the final results of which remain to be determined -- if there are any results at all.”

--With assistance from Jose Enrique Arrioja.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Wicary in Ottawa at swicary@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Theophilos Argitis at targitis@bloomberg.net, Walter Brandimarte

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