CARACAS, Venezuela — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived here on Tuesday to meet with dictator Nicolás Maduro and other members of the Venezuelan socialist regime.
Venezuela is the second destination in Lavrov’s five-day Latin American tour that kicked off with a stop in Brazil on Monday, where he met with Brazilian radical leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his foreign minister, Mauro Vieira. Lavrov is scheduled to visit Cuba and Nicaragua after visiting Venezuela.
Maduro announced on Monday during the premiere of his new television show Con Maduro+ (“With Maduro Plus”) that Lavrov’s visit to Venezuela aimed to “review all the subjects of Russia-Venezuela cooperation, of Russia’s presence in Latin America and the Caribbean for the good of our region, of world geopolitics.”
Lavrov started his itinerary in Caracas with a meeting with Maduro’s top diplomat Yván Gil at the Casa Amarilla (“Yellow House”), a historical building in the center of Caracas that serves as the headquarters of the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry.
After their meeting, where they reviewed bilateral agreements, both foreign ministers held a joint press conference where they committed to uphold “the principles of the Charter of the United Nations” and reaffirmed their respective regimes’ alliances and mutual support against sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union against them.
“Venezuela will always condemn the use of coercive measures, be it against Venezuela, be it against Russia or against any country,” Gil said, who described his encounter with Lavrov as “fruitful.”
The Venezuelan top diplomat continued by claiming that “the United States has been applying a systematic policy of attack despite having committed on numerous occasions to facilitate dialogue among Venezuelans and what has actually happened is the opposite, we have not perceived any easing of sanctions.”
Lavrov – who asserted that Venezuela, namely, the Maduro regime, is “without a doubt” one of Russia’s “most loyal partners” – said that Russia will favor the Venezuelan economy “in any way so that it becomes an independent economy.”
“Undoubtedly, Venezuela is one of Russia’s most faithful partners,” Lavrov said. “We are united by friendly relations and also by similarities in our positions, ties of friendship, and sympathy between our peoples. Our relations have gone through various trials, crises, pressure, but our ties, despite everything, will continue to develop.”
“We will do everything possible to make Venezuela’s economy less and less dependent on the whims and geopolitical games of the United States or any other actor in the Western camp,” the Russian top diplomat continued. “We will favor any way for the Venezuelan economy to become independent of the United States’ and other Western pressures.”
The Venezuelan foreign minister assured that the Venezuelan and Russian central banks are in talks for an alternative to the SWIFT international banking system, as both countries do not presently have access to it, as well as the implementation of the corresponding infrastructure to allow the use of the Russian MIR electronic payment system and its cards in Venezuela.
Lavrov then arrived at the Miraflores presidential Palace to meet with Maduro. Venezuela’s State television network Venezolana de Televisión reported that Maduro and Lavrov discussed various topics of interest to strengthen strategic alliances between both nations.
The meeting ended without either side providing any statements to the media present there.
“Pleasant visit to our country by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergei Lavrov, with whom we held a pleasant meeting that strengthened bilateral relations and the map of joint cooperation in various areas of the development of our nations,” Maduro posted on his Twitter account late Tuesday evening.
Prior to his meeting with Maduro, the Russian top diplomat also held a meeting with the socialist regime’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, who received Lavrov with an “ambush.”
Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency reported that Lavrov also met with Bolivian top diplomat Rogelio Mayta during his stay in Caracas, where he reminded Mayta the invitation extended to Bolivian President Luis Arce to visit Russia and invited his Bolivian counterpart to discuss bilateral relations.
The Bolivian foreign minister arrived in Caracas on Tuesday to hold a meeting with representatives of the Maduro regime’s foreign ministry as part of the cooperation between both countries.
Lavrov is expected to arrive in Havana, Cuba, on Wednesday to meet with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla and other members of the communist Castro regime in a two-day visit before departing to Nicaragua to conclude his Latin American tour.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.