VENEZUELAN President Nicolas Maduro is hoping for warmer ties with the US following a meeting with a Washington envoy on Wednesday.

Mr Maduro was upbeat after his two-hour conclave with US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon at the presidential palace in Caracas.

Mr Shannon was political counsellor at the US embassy in Venezuela from 1996 until 1999, when Hugo Chavez became president.

A smiling Mr Maduro told thousands of supporters: “I have confirmed our interest that, sooner rather than later, we can build an agenda of respect between the US and Venezuela. It’s never too late.

“I gave Shannon a message to take back to President [Barack] Obama. We hope that Obama can rectify the posture he’s taken during eight years of opposing Venezuela’s revolution.

“Hopefully in these last seven months of his presidency, we can start down the path toward dialogue, with respect for a positive agenda between the two countries. I really hope we can.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry met Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez in the Dominican Republic last week during mediation between the opposition and government.

The Washington-based Organisation of American States was set to vote yesterday on secretary-general Luis Almagro’s move to invoke its Democratic Charter against Venezuela — which could lead to the country’s suspension.

Mr Maduro attacked opposition alliance Mud National Assembly speaker Henry Ramos for his involvement in the OAS meeting, saying: “He takes his private jet and goes to Washington to conspire against his own country.”

Mr Shannon met Mr Ramos on Tuesday afternoon along with fellow Mud leader Henrique Capriles.

In March, Mr Obama renewed his agressive 2015 decree classifying the South American nation of just 30 million people an “ unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security of the US.”

Mud said on Wednesday that the National Electoral Council had validated more than 236,000 signatures to the petition for a recall referendum against Mr Maduro.

Once validated, the opposition must obtain 3.9 million signatures in just three days. But the council has already rejected more than a quarter of the nearly two million signatures collected.