Adds comment from Trump.
US president Donald Trump's administration is prioritizing discussions on immigration and detainees over other issues in relations with Venezuela, suggesting no imminent move to tighten sanctions on oil exports.
US special envoy Ric Grenell landed in Caracas, Venezuela, today to discuss repatriations and the liberation of US citizens detained in the South American country, the White House confirmed.
The envoy went with two orders from Trump: to ensure that "Venezuelan nationals that have broken our nation's laws will land in Venezuela," and that "all US detainees in Venezuela are returned," a White House official said.
National assembly president Jorge Rodriguez and foreign minister Yvan Gil were shown on Venezuelan television meeting Grenell on the tarmac.
The US said it plans to deport 400 members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua that it has arrested.
US citizens in custody in Venezuela include three arrested in September for allegedly plotting to overthrow Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Another six US citizens are also being held in Venezuela, according to human rights groups.
The negotiations with Venezuela do not mean that the US recognizes Maduro as a legitimate president, the official said. The US and many other countries hold that Venezuela's July elections were fradulant and that exiled opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez won the vote.
The US in April in the run-up to the election revoked a temporary lifting of some crude sanctions on Venezuela after it became clear that Venezuela would not let primary opposition candidate Maria Corina Machado run. Gonzalez ran in her place.
Trump has discussed possibly tightening crude sanctions on Venezuela, which were originally put in place during his first term. Former president Joe Biden's administration began allowing Chevron to export crude again from its joint ventures in Venezuela to the US only, which averages about 200,000 b/d.
The US president critized that shift today, but did not mention increasing sanctions.
"We're not going to let that stupid stuff happen," Trump said. "So we'll see what happens. We're not happy with Venezuela."
The meetings come as secretary of state Marco Rubio begins his first foreign visit in his new capacity with a stop in Panama. Trump has demanded concessions for US vessels passing through the critical waterway and publicly mulled taking over the canal from Panama.
Grenell's discussions do not indicate a change in US priorities about Venezuela just as Rubio goes to the region, US special envoy on Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone said.
The US urged Maduro to heed Grenell's demands "and what he puts on the table, because ultimately there will be consequences otherwise," Claver-Carone said.
