U.S. Considers Lifting Venezuela's Sanctions To Help Oil Production

The U.S. is hoping to isolate Russia from its key Latin American ally.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has opened a crack in the frosty relations between the United States and Venezuela, long considered Russia’s most loyal ally in the western hemisphere. 

Signaling a sudden shift in foreign policy, the U.S. sent a delegation to Caracas over the weekend, to talk to the leaders of a country that’s been heavily punished by U.S. sanctions.  

Senior Biden administration officials met with President Nicolas Maduro’s government at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas. It's a meeting almost no one would have predicted just a month ago. But the U.S. wants to isolate Russia from this key Latin American ally.