Brazilian businessman Joesley Batista met last Friday (9) with the interim dictator of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez. Batista also held conversations with authorities from the United States before and after the meeting, as reported this Wednesday (14) by the agency Reuters.
Owner of the oil and gas company Fluxus, Batista would have gone to the foreign country with the aim of seeking partnerships. For the agency, the movement would signal a possible commercial rapprochement between Venezuela and Western powers in the energy sector.
Close sources stated, on condition of anonymity, that the objective of the meetings would be to assure Americans that the Venezuelan government would demonstrate willingness to open the country’s oil and gas industry to new foreign investment.
SEE ALSO:
According to CNN Brasil, which also reported the meeting, the conversation between the two also discussed the stability of the provisional government, the level of support given to Delcy by the Chavista regime after the capture of Nicolás Maduro and the prospects for investments in Venezuela. Batista met with officials from the Donald Trump administration before and after the meeting.
J&F, a company owned by the Batista brothers, told the Brazilian broadcaster that it would not comment on the case.
Joesley Diplomacy
This is not the first time that a Brazilian livestock billionaire has played the role of informal Brazilian ambassador to Venezuela, with the approval of the Trump administration. The American newspaper Washington Post reported that the Brazilian was Trump’s envoy to seek a negotiated solution for the Venezuelan leader’s departure from power before the military action that deposed him.
Despite attempts at negotiation, Maduro and his wife rejected the proposals, ending the possibility of a peaceful transition. The Trump administration then concluded that diplomatic options were exhausted, paving the way for military action that resulted in the capture of the former Venezuelan dictator.
