Summary The White House on Tuesday sought to ease tensions.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States has sent a top State Department official to Venezuela to meet with President Nicolas Maduro, officials in Washington said on Wednesday.
The meeting comes of the eve of the participation by US President Barack Obama and his Venezuelan counterpart at the Summit of the Americas, set to get underway on Friday in Panama.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the trip by Thomas Shannon, top counselor in the State Department, follows an invitation for the meeting from Caracas.
US top diplomat John Kerry asked Shannon to go to Caracas for the talks, the spokeswoman said.
"The Venezuelan government recently invited the US government to send a senior official to Caracas to meet with President Maduro in advance of the Summit of the Americas," said Harf, without providing details as to the substance of the discussions.
"He arrived on the 7th and will return on the 9th," Harf said.
"The Venezuelan government has often called for direct dialogue," Harf said, adding that Washington has always expressed the willingness to do so "if they are willing to talk directly."
Ongoing friction between Washington and leftist Venezuela -- Cuba s main ally in the region -- threatens to overshadow the two-day Americas summit, at a time when Washington had hoped to herald its improved relations in the region.
Maduro plans to bring a petition with 10 million signatures from Venezuelans demanding that Obama remove a recent the executive order declaring Venezuela a national security threat.
The White House on Tuesday sought to ease tensions, saying the designation of Venezuela as a threat was merely bureaucratic wording used in such executive orders.
