US Secretary of State John Kerry says the United States will engage in dialogue with Venezuela with the aim of restoring ambassador-level relations.
Following a meeting with Venezuelaâ„¢s Foreign Minister Elias Jose in Guatemala, Kerry, who is on his first trip to Latin America after taking office, said Wednesday that he was hopeful that a rapprochement could be attained.
Kerry said after the meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the annual Organization of American States general assembly, that the US and Venezuela Å“agreed today there would be an ongoing, continuing dialogue at a high-level between the State Department and the foreign ministry and we will try to set out an agenda on which we agree on things we can work on together.”
The US secretary of state added that the two sides aim to Å“begin to change the dialogue between our countries.” He expressed hope that the US and Venezuela Å“quickly move to the appointment of ambassadors.”
Caracas and Washington have not had ambassadors since 2010. Late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez rejected the US nominee at the time on accusation of making disrespectful remarks about the Venezuelan government. Washington later revoked the visa of Venezuelaâ„¢s envoy to the US.
In March, Caracas expelled a US Embassy attaché over allegations of meeting with Venezuelan military officials and plotting to destabilize Venezuela.
Washington also angered Caracas by supporting Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who disputed the results of the April presidential election, in which Nicolas Maduro won the race with 50.7 percent of the vote against 49.1 percent for Capriles.
MR/HSN
This article originally appeared on: Press TV