They reveal that the head of a Government reconstruction unit held meetings in Caracas to consider UK involvement in the South American country’s energy sector. Redacted papers released to Declassified via a Freedom of Information request include a record of the meetings involving the Foreign Office’s Venezuela Reconstruction Unit (VRU).
By Express – Jon King
Feb 3, 2022
It was established in 2019, the same year Britain recognised opposition figure Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim president.
Britain’s move came in the wake of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro accusing Mr Guaidó of plotting to spark an armed confrontation aimed at toppling him.
The power struggle came after the country’s National Assembly declared Mr Maduro’s re-election in 2018 invalid.
According to Declassified, the documents reveal details of visits to Caracas and suggest the nature of the UK’s “reconstruction” plans.
Mr Guaidó travelled to the UK in January 2020, in a bid to shore up international support and meet with UK officials, including then Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.
The next month, the former British ambassador to Venezuela, John Saville, who headed up the VRU, went to Venezuela.
Declassified reports suggest he then convened a “VRU event”, which was attended by British ambassador Andrew Soper and eight unnamed officials, including one from the UK’s Joint Intelligence Organisation.
The Foreign Office told Declassified it holds no formal write up or note of the event.
Two more meetings were arranged on February 11 and 12 “to inform the delivery of a Joint Analysis of Conflict and Stability (JACS) for Venezuela”.
JACS, according to the Government, is a “strategic assessment used to underpin UK National Security Council Strategies”.
The first day of the JACS meetings identified “worst case and most likely scenarios (political, humanitarian, security and regional)”, in order to reach “consensus on likely implications for [Her Majesty’s Government] in regards to particular scenarios”, Declassified reports.
Day two of the meetings focused on “UK involvement in the energy sector” of Venezuela. However, the full agenda remains classified for reasons of “national security”.
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