Spotlight: U.S. willingness to hold talks with Venezuela is not real breakthrough, experts

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's surprise announcement this week that Washington is willing to hold talks with Venezuela is not a real breakthrough, thought it appears positive, Venezuelan experts have said.

The move is motivated by Washington's goal of regaining its influence in Latin America, not by a sincere desire to mend fences with Latin America's largest socialist country, political analysts in Venezuela said.

"The leading factor is still the loss of its hegemonic influence in the region," Abraham Carrillo, a political analyst, told Xinhua.

Carrillo noted that Washington has expressed support for a campaign by Venezuela's right wing to oust President Nicolas Maduro via a recall referendum.

The U.S. State Department released in early June its 2015 Country Reports on Terrorism, including Venezuela for maintaining "a permissive environment" toward "terrorist groups."

Meanwhile, the Washington-dominated Organization of American States (OAS) is scheduled to vote Thursday on whether or not to apply the so-called Democratic Charter against Venezuela, for allegedly breaking with democratic principles.

While Washington backs the idea of invoking the charter against Venezuela, the United States would not pursue suspending Venezuela's membership in the OAS if the vote finds the South American country guilty of violating democratic norms, Kerry said.

Washington is aware that pressing for Venezuela's suspension could be "counterproductive," if it alienates other governments in the region that are sympathetic to Venezuela or if it simply pushes Venezuela outside of Washington's sphere of influence, said political observer Ali Rojas Olaya, a former rector of the Santa Rosa Catholic University.

"These countries' exit (from the OAS) could mean the strengthening of alternative organizations of integration, such as the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and the Union of South American Nations (Unasur)," Carrillo pointed out.

When announcing Washington was willing to talk with Caracas, Kerry said the White House also backed an Unasur initiative in attempt to promote dialogue between the Venezuelan government and the right-wing coalition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD).

"Unasur has played an active and respectful role in the resolution of internal conflicts in its member countries," said Carrillo, adding "the U.S. government has set its sights on the organization, and will seek to influence policies of the bloc, now that it has new allies in the governments of Argentina and Brazil." Both South American countries have seen new pro-business governments with closer ties to Washington come to power.

Still, "no matter what the United States' interests may be, dialogue is important," said Olaya.

U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shanno is expected to arrive soon in Caracas for talks with the Venezuelan government. Endi