Secret Meeting Between Venezuela and the U.S. as Oil Sanctions Loom

U.S. and Venezuelan government officials met secretly this week ahead of the expiry of oil sanction relief next week. The meeting, in Mexico City, discussed the possibility of reforms in Venezuela, Bloomberg reported citing unnamed sources, with a focus on elections. The United States granted a six-month oil sanction waiver to Caracas last year after the two sides discussed election reforms that would have given Venezuela’s opposition a chance in the upcoming vote in July. However, just months later, the Maduro government effectively banned…