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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 29 June 2022
U.S. officials back in Venezuela in a bid to rebuild ties

By REGINA GARCIA CANO position. The two discussed
and JOSHUA GOODMAN efforts to jumpstart negotia-
Associated Press Writer tions in Mexico, according
CARACAS, Venezuela to the person on the condi-
(AP) — Senior U.S. govern- tion of anonymity to discuss
ment officials have quietly the private meeting.
traveled to Caracas in the Since the March trip, both
latest bid to bring home the Biden administration
detained Americans and and Venezuela’s socialist
rebuild relations with the government have shown a
South American oil giant willingness to engage after
as the war in Ukraine drags years of hostilities between
on, forcing the U.S. to reca- Washington and Caracas
librate other foreign policy over Maduro’s 2018 re-
objectives. election, which was marred
A U.S. State Department by irregularities. The U.S.
spokesperson described and other nations withdrew
the trip as a welfare visit fo- recognition of Maduro af-
cused on the safety of sev- ter that election, and in-
eral U.S. citizens detained stead, recognized Guaidó
in Caracas, including a as Venezuela’s legitimate
group of oil executives from leader.
Houston-based Citgo jailed Although negotiations be-
more than four years ago. Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro gestures as he speaks in a joint news briefing with his tween Maduro and the
The delegation includes Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi at the Saadabad Palace in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 11, 2022. opposition have yet to
Roger Carstens, the spe- Associated Press resume, the U.S. then re-
cial presidential envoy on nuity to the bilateral agen- That trip resulted in the re- seeking to accomplish dur- newed a license so that
hostage affairs, as well as da between the govern- lease of two American citi- ing the mission. But high on oil companies, including
Ambassador James Story, ment of the United States zens who the U.S. consid- the list are likely to be Mad- Chevron, could continue to
who heads the U.S. govern- and the government of ered unjustly detained and uro’s demand that the U.S. perform only basic upkeep
ment’s Venezuelan Affairs Venezuela.” a promise from Maduro to lift crippling oil sanctions of wells they operate jointly
Unit out of neighboring Co- The visit follows a surprise jumpstart talks with his op- that have exacerbated with Venezuela’s state-run
lombia. trip in March by the two of- ponents. Months earlier, he hardships in what was once oil giant PDVSA.
President Nicolás Maduro ficials and Juan Gonzalez, had suspended the nego- South America’s most pros- The White House also lifted
confirmed the visit during the National Security Coun- tiations, led by Norwegian perous nation. sanctions imposed in 2017
televised remarks, saying cil director for the Western diplomats in Mexico, after Upon arrival in Caracas, targeting the nephew of
the delegation would meet Hemisphere. a key ally was extradited Story met for two hours with First Lady Cilia Flores, who
with a trusted ally, National That was the first White to the U.S. on money-laun- Juan Guaidó, according to at the time was accused of
Assembly President Jorge House trip to the county in dering charges.It’s unclear someone close to the lead- facilitating corruption while
Rodríguez, to “give conti- more than two decades. what else the officials are er of the U.S.-backed op- a top official at PDVSA.q

UN: More than 300,000 civilians killed in Syria’s conflict

By JAMEY KEATEN Tuesday the highest official different parts of Syria, de- U.N. do not include soldiers mation, including at least
Associated Press estimate to date of con- manding democratic re- and insurgents killed in the their full name, date and
GENEVA (AP) — The first flict-related civilian deaths forms following Arab Spring conflict; their numbers are location of death.
10 years of Syria’s conflict, in the country. protests in Egypt, Tunisia, believed to be in the tens Also, statistical estimation
which started in 2011, killed The conflict began with an- Yemen, Libya and Bahrain of thousands. The numbers techniques were used to
more than 300,000 civilians, ti-government protests that that removed some Arab also do not include people connect the dots where
the United Nations said broke out in March 2011 in leaders who had been in who were killed and buried there were missing ele-
power for decades. by their families without no- ments of information. Using
However, it quickly turned tifying authorities. these techniques, a fur-
into a full-blown civil war “These are the people killed ther 163,537 civilian deaths
that killed hundreds of as a direct result of war were estimated to have
thousands and destroyed operations. This does not occurred.
large parts of the country. include the many, many “The conflict-related casu-
Tuesday’s report published more civilians who died alty figures in this report are
by the U.N. Human Rights due to the loss of access not simply a set of abstract
Office followed what it said to healthcare, to food, to numbers, but represent in-
were rigorous assessment clean water and other es- dividual human beings,”
and statistical analysis of sential human rights,” said Bachelet said. She added
the available data on civil- U.N. High Commissioner that the work of civil society
ian casualties. According for Human Rights Michelle organizations and the U.N.
to the report, 306,887 civil- Bachelet. in monitoring and docu-
ians are estimated to have The report, mandated by menting conflict-related
been killed in Syria be- the U.N. Human Rights deaths is key in helping
Residents walk through the destruction of the once rebel-held tween March 1, 2011 and Council, cited 143,350 ci- families and communities
Salaheddine neighborhood in the eastern Aleppo, Syria, Jan. March 31, 2021 because of vilian deaths individually establish the truth, seek ac-
20, 2017. the conflict. documented by various countability and pursue ef-
Associated Press The figures released by the sources with detailed infor- fective remedies.q