Venezuela's number two denies secret talks with US

ANKARA

Diosdado Cabello, the number two man in Venezuelan government, denied on Monday allegations that he was in secret talks with members of the U.S. administration, CNN Spanish reported.

Cabello said at a news briefing in La Guaira, Venezuela's port city, that such talks are only possible under four conditions.

"Under the authorization of President Nicolas Maduro, discussing Venezuela, here in Venezuela and with the owners of the circus," he said, taking a jab at the U.S administration.

According to an AP report, a U.S. official close to the Trump administration met Cabello, who is considered the most powerful man in Venezuela after Maduro, last month.

The U.S is "in a listening mode to hear what it would take for them to betray Maduro and support a transition plan", the unnamed official said.

Cabello also mocked the reports by retweeting a post by another user which read: "Diosdado met in SECRET with a gringo SECRET agent to agree on a SECRET plan to knock Nicolas down, who doesn't know anything about this because if he knew it, it wouldn't be a SECRET. So don't say anything, it's not going to be that everything is discovered and the SECRET plan fails. Sincerely AP."

Some Latin Americans use "gringo" as a derogatory word to describe Americans.

The report follows Washington's move earlier this month to freeze all assets of the Venezuelan government in a significant escalation of tensions.

Since the beginning of this year, Venezuela has been embroiled in political unrest as Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido engage in a power battle.

Guaido in January proclaimed himself the rightful president of Venezuela, dismissing Maduro’s 2018 re-election as a fraud, a move recognized by more than 50 countries, including the U.S.

But Venezuelan state institutions, military and many countries including Russia, China, Iran and Turkey have been putting their weight behind Maduro.