In December, the Vatican allegedly tried to negotiate with the United States to allow Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro to flee to Russia. The Vatican reportedly believed that the Kremlin was willing to trade Venezuela for concessions from the White House on Ukraine.
Points of attention
- Vatican Cardinal Pietro Parolin reportedly tried to negotiate with the U.S. to exchange Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro for concessions on Ukraine.
- The attempt to exchange Maduro for Ukraine failed due to Maduro's refusal, considering Washington's threats a bluff.
Vatican Cardinal tried to "bargain" Maduro in the US
This is reported by The Washington Post, citing numerous informed sources and obtained documents.
According to the publication, on Christmas Eve, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who is the second person in the Vatican after the Pope and is responsible for diplomatic negotiations, urgently summoned the American ambassador to the Holy See, Brian Burch, and asked him about America's plans for Venezuela.
According to the documents, the cardinal spent several days seeking a direct conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is considered the architect of the American operation in Venezuela.
In a conversation with the American ambassador, Parolin stated that Russia was ready to provide asylum to Maduro, and begged the Americans for patience in order to push the Venezuelan dictator to agree to such an offer.
According to one of the informants of The Washington Post, Cardinal Parolin has a deep personal interest in Venezuela, having previously served as the Vatican ambassador to Caracas. He also brokered peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.
According to documents obtained by the publication, in a meeting with Birch on December 24, Parolin said that Russia was ready to accept Maduro. He also shared what the documents describe as a “rumor”: that Venezuela had become a “crucial element” in negotiations over the Russia-Ukraine war, and that “Moscow would give up Venezuela if it was satisfied with Ukraine.”
However, according to journalists, it was not possible to exchange Maduro for Ukraine due to the stubbornness of the dictator himself. He did not believe that Trump would really dare to carry out a military operation and considered Washington's threats to be an ordinary bluff.
"He wasn't going to make a deal. He was just going to sit back and watch people create a crisis," one of the sources familiar with the matter told the publication.
In this context, in particular, the episode is mentioned when, a few days before the American operation, Maduro danced on Venezuelan television, which the Americans regarded as an open mockery of Trump.
