US, Venezuela Keep Up Diplomacy Amid Concern From Exile Group

US, Venezuela Keep Up Diplomacy Amid Concern From Exile Group

By Brianna Lee @briannaclee b.lee@ibtimes.com on June 15 2015 6:18 PM EDT

U.S. and Venezuelan officials continued efforts to improve diplomatic relations with a private, high-level meeting in Haiti over the weekend, to the chagrin of at least one Venezuelan exile group.

Venezuela Awareness Foundation, a Miami-based organization focused on human rights in Venezuela, noted its “deep concern” over the meeting between Thomas Shannon, counselor to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and Venezuelan National Assembly leader Diosdado Cabello, widely considered Caracas’ second-in-command after President Nicolás Maduro. The brief meeting in Port-au-Prince, mediated by Haitian President Michel Martelly, came after several news organizations reported on an ongoing U.S. investigation of Cabello and other high-level Venezuelan officials over suspected links to drug trafficking.

“The United States looks to increase business with Venezuela and normalize relations, when today there are 96 Venezuelan political prisoners, dozens under house arrest and hundreds on probation,” Venezuela Awareness wrote in a statement.

“It is extremely serious that an envoy from the Obama administration met with a Maduro envoy, that is, Diosdado Cabello, who has been accused in a New York City court of being the head of a drug cartel in Venezuela,” the statement added.

More:
http://www.ibtimes.com/us-venezuela-keep-diplomacy-amid-concern-exile-group-1968033

"Exiles!" LOL.