In Secret Talks, U.S. Offers Amnesty to Venezuela's Maduro for Ceding Power

The U.S. is pursuing a long-shot bid to push Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to give up power in exchange for amnesty as overwhelming evidence emerges that the strongman lost last month’s election, people familiar with the matter said.

The U.S. has discussed pardons for Maduro and top lieutenants of his who face Justice Department indictments, said three people familiar with the Biden administration deliberation. One of the people said the U.S. has put “everything on the table” to persuade Maduro to leave before his term ends in January.

Another person familiar with the talks said the U.S. would be open to providing guarantees not to pursue those regime figures for extradition. The U.S. in 2020 placed a $15 million bounty for information leading to Maduro’s arrest on charges of conspiring with his allies to flood the U.S. with cocaine.

The talks represent a flicker of hope for a Venezuelan political opposition that meticulously collected voter tallies showing its candidate, little-known former diplomat Edmundo González, defeated Maduro in a landslide in the July 28 election. Over the past two weeks, Maduro has jailed thousands of dissidents, maintained the military’s loyalty and tasked the Supreme Court, stacked with his handpicked allies, with resolving the election impasse, buying him time.

Eric Farnsworth, a former American diplomat and analyst at the Council of the Americas policy group in Washington, said the election results stunned Maduro. Farnsworth said the leader has signaled he is willing to take Venezuela toward a more hard-line dictatorship, like that of Nicaragua under Daniel Ortega, where political killings are far more common and no dissent is brooked.

“He’s been shown to be unpopular and also illegitimate. How does he combat that? With further oppression,” said Farnsworth. “As a practical matter, it makes him more dangerous. That makes being in the opposition a very risky thing..."

Read the full article.