On Wednesday’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” NPR White House Correspondent Deepa Shivaram reacted to the prisoner swap deal between the United States and Venezuela by noting that Venezuela has already missed deadlines to meet conditions it was supposed to in exchange for the U.S. relaxing sanctions under the Barbados Agreements, but the U.S. didn’t put sanctions back on and noted that “There [have] been huge numbers of Venezuelan migrants coming to the U.S. southern border. Oil prices and migration are both hot-button topics for the 2024 elections. So, keeping this deal makes some political sense for Biden at home as well.”
After playing a clip of President Joe Biden stating that thusfar, Venezuela is meeting its commitments to a free election, Shivaram stated, “I will note here that Venezuela already missed a deadline of November 30 to meet some of those conditions in the Barbados Agreements, even though the U.S. had threatened to put back in place those sanctions. So, keep in mind, there’s a lot going on here. There are also some domestic political issues at play for Biden. There [have] been huge numbers of Venezuelan migrants coming to the U.S. southern border. Oil prices and migration are both hot-button topics for the 2024 elections. So, keeping this deal makes some political sense for Biden at home as well.”
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