Venezuela, U.S. officials meet in Haiti to improve ties

High-ranking officials from Venezuela and the United States have met in Haiti in a bid to normalize strained ties, the Venezuelan News Agency (AVN) reported Sunday.

Venezuela was represented by Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez and National Assembly Speaker Diosdado Cabello, while the United States was represented by State Department Counselor Thomas Shannon and U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Pamela White.

Neither side issued any statement about the meeting, which was held in Port-au-Prince on Saturday, other than to confirm the event and express gratitude to Haiti for hosting the encounter.

Late Saturday Rodriguez announced via Twitter, "we held a work meeting in Haiti with Tom Shannon and the U.S. delegation on the road to normalize relations.

"We thank the president of Haiti for being a generous host," she added in a second tweet.

A Peruvian daily ran a picture showing a beaming Haitian President Michell Martelly with his arms around Shannon to his right, and Rodriguez and Cabello to his left. All were smiling and appeared to be in good spirits.

Relations between Washington and Caracas have become tense since Socialists came to power in the South American country some 15 years ago. Neither state has had an ambassador to the other country since 2010.

In a move that further weighed on the already strained ties, the White House declared in March that Venezuela constitutes "an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States."

Following an international outcry, Washington insisted the strongly worded declaration was merely boilerplate used when imposing economic sanctions against a state.

Shannon traveled to Caracas in April to meet with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on ties. Endi