WASHINGTON sent veteran diplomat Thomas Shannon to Venezuela on Tuesday for talks with government and opposition figures.

He will meet members of the right-wing Democratic Unity Roundtable (Mud) coalition that dominates parliament and with United Socialist Party President Nicolas Maduro.

“I think it is very good that we are taking these steps with the US,” Mr Maduro said. “I only wish the Venezuelan opposition would engage in serious, transparent dialogue in the same way.

”But the Communist Party of Venezuela warned that Washington’s apparent U-turn was just a tactical shift in the face of recent foreign policy defeats inflicted on it by Caracas.

Political bureau spokesman Oswaldo Ramos said: “We have to watch the US approaches to Venezuela with great caution, since imperialism never takes a step without something up its sleeve.”

Mr Ramos recalled the recent US detente with Cuba and how US President Barack Obama admitted that, since 55 years of criminal economic blockade had failed, a new strategy was needed “to oust the Cuban government.”

Mr Shannon’s visit follows last week’s meeting in the Dominican Republic between Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez and US Secretary of State John Kerry, where the two agreed to restart dialogue.

Relations reached a nadir in March 2015 when US President Barack Obama declared Venezuela an “unusual and extraordinary threat to national security” — following a year of violent regime change riots organised by the Mud.

On Monday the Mud launched a renewed drive to gather the four million signatures they need for a recall referendum against Mr Maduro.

Rightwingers have sought to blame the government for economic problems caused by the global slump in oil prices, food hoarding by big distribution firms, black-market trading and other forms of economic warfare.