Biden administration opens secret backchannel to Maduro government as Venezuela indictments remain active

Senior Biden administration officials met secretly with Maduro government representatives in Caracas, the first direct senior-level US-Venezuela talks in years, to explore exchanging detained Americans for reduced sanctions pressure. The Maduro indictment and active DEA criminal files on Venezuelan officials remained formally in place throughout the talks. The Biden team kept the channel secret from Congress, framing it as exploratory; within months the U.S. had released two imprisoned Maduro allies and Venezuela had freed several Americans.