Foreign Affairs

John Kerry Caught On Camera Shaking Hands With Murderous Petro Dictator At UN Climate Summit

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White House climate envoy John Kerry shook hands in an apparent friendly exchange with Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro at the United Nations (UN) COP27 Climate Change Conference in Egypt this week, according to a video posted to Twitter Tuesday.

The video shows Maduro touched Kerry’s arm and appeared to make him laugh, although it’s unclear what was discussed during the brief exchange posted by Associated Press reporter Joshua Goodman. Kerry is representing the Biden administration at the conference, where the U.S. plans to unveil a plan to pay poor countries to end their reliance on fossil fuels.

Any lip readers?

Maybe recalling their days bonding over baseball at a Cape Cod retreat of the @grupodeboston two decades ago. @NicolasMaduro was a lawmaker and @JohnKerry
still a senator. Those meetings helped ease tensions following 2002 coup. pic.twitter.com/Z0ZWRZ5Xwj

— Joshua Goodman (@APjoshgoodman) November 8, 2022

Maduro was also seen in other videos from the conference having other friendly encounters with world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa.

The Biden administration has faced criticism for approaching the Maduro’s regime with a strategy of appeasement. In March, the Biden administration offered Maduro sanctions relief in exchange for oil as it shut down U.S. production, Reuters reported. The U.S. had banned oil imports from Venezuela since 2019.

Venezuela also released American prisoners to the U.S. one day before Reuters published its report.

“Unjustly holding Americans captive is always unacceptable. And even as we celebrate the return of Cardenas and Fernandez, we also remember the names and the stories of every American who is being unjustly held against their will—in Venezuela, in Russia, in Afghanistan, Syria, China, Iran, and elsewhere around the world. My Administration will keep fighting to bring them all home,” President Joe Biden said in a statement at the time.

Excited to open the @US_Center at #COP27. Over the next two weeks, we will be hosting dozens of events, bringing together hundreds of people here in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, to step up our response to the climate crisis. pic.twitter.com/jEaNr2Dm2l

— Special Presidential Envoy John Kerry (@ClimateEnvoy) November 8, 2022

The Venezuelan regime “since 2014 planned and executed serious human rights violations, some of which – including arbitrary killings and the systematic use of torture – amount to crimes against humanity,” the UN concluded in 2020.

A spokesperson for Kerry didn’t immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.