Credit: / UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe / Secretary-General António Guterres (right) meets with Michael Pompeo, Secretary of State of the United States of America at UN New York Headquarters Feb. 21, 2019

By Gary Raynaldo   DIPLOMATIC TIMES

U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo called on the Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres for a meeting at the world body’s headquarters in New York Thursday. The meeting was closed to the press and both the UN and State Department are being cagey about the substance and specifics of what was discussed . According to statement from Pompeo’s  Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino:‎  “Secretary Michael R. Pompeo met today in New York with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. They discussed ongoing events in Venezuela, as well as the importance of parties in Yemen beginning redeployments in Hudaydah.”  Guetteres’ spokesman also confirmed that Venezuela was one of the issues Pompeo and the UNSG discussed. 

“The Secretary-General and the Secretary of State discussed the situation in Yemen, in particular the implementation of the Stockholm Agreement and the importance of the parties to begin phase 1 of the redeployment from Hudaydah. They also discussed the situation in Venezuela and the region.

Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

During the Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, a question was asked regarding the reason for Pompeo’s   previously unannounced visit to the Secretary‑General Thursday.  “Well, it’s announced because it was just confirmed this afternoon,” Dujarric  responded.  “The Secretary of State has requested to see the Secretary‑General, and of course, the Secretary‑General is more than happy to see him, and we hope to get a readout afterwards.”

The last time Pompeo was at the United Nations was on Jan. 26, 2019, when he urged the UN Security Council to stand for freedom or back the regime of Nicholas Maduro in Venezuela. The Security Council held an emergency meeting called by the United States to address the political crisis  in Venezuela. The Latin American country has been in a whirlpool of political crisis ever since opposition leader Juan Guaidó declared himself interim president on January 23, 2019 in a bid to oust President Maduro. The Trump administration immediately stated it was backing Guaidó.  “The time is now to support the Venezuelan people, to recognize the new democratic government led by interim President Guaido, and end this nightmare. No excuses.”  That was the message Pompeo delivered before the UN Security Council last month.

U.N. Continues to Recognize Nicholas Maduro’s Diplomatic Representative in New York  

Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten /  U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres (right) meets with Jorge Alberto Arreaza, Minister of the People’s Power for Foreign Affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Feb. 11, 2019 at the world body’s headquarters in New York.

Meanwhile, the regime of Venezuelan president  Maduro has had the ‘ear’ of the United Nations amid the deepening political and humanitarian crisis in the Latin  American country. The U.N. has spurned the United States request, or some would say demand, that the world body  only deal with self-proclaimed Venezuela president  Guaidó. Venezuela Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza met with Guterres at his residence in the swank Sutton Place section of mid-Manhattan earlier this month.  The next day after Arreaza dined with Gueterres at his residence, the Venezuela Foreign Minister held a press conference at the  U.N. stating  the Maduro regime wants deeper cooperation with the world body. Arreaza also used the press conference’s international platform to attack the Trump administration for its backing of what he said was basically a Coup against the “legitimate Maduro government.”  

Credit: Photo by Gary Raynaldo / Permanent Mission of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the United Nations  E. 46th Street Manhattan, NY

 So, it would seem, that  those who want “regime change” in Venezuela are not too happy with the UN’s continued dialogue with Maduro’s Diplomat in New York.  And that it is not a stretch to assume Pompeo did not come all the way up to the U.N. in New York to talk about the weather,  but to apply some diplomatic “arm twisting” and  “soft pressure” on Guterres to stop being so cozy with Arreaza.   Senator Mark Rubio, known for his hard-line against Castro’s Cuba, is now unleashing animus against the Maduro regime in Venezuela.  Here is what Rubio  put out  on the  Twitter wire after U.N. Secretary General Guterres met with Arreaza:

“@antonioguterres playing right into #Maduro plans. Fake @UN “negotiations” to divide opposition & buy time for protests to die down. Maduro will also want UN “experts” to blame #Venezuela crisis on sanctions. When it comes to democracy & human rights UN increasingly worthless”   

 Sen. Mark Rubio R- Florida  via twitter

Stephane Dujarric,  Gueterres’ spokesperson,  stated at recent briefing that…

”the Secretary-General is not in the business of deciding who the head of state of a country (is) and recognizing a government,”  but “we work on an everyday basis through the Permanent Mission of Venezuela, and we continue to do so.”