Maduro Wants Talks

Nicolás Maduro wants UNASUR to help coordinate talks between Venezuela and the United States. It's unclear to me what these talks are intended to achieve. Maduro claims that Joe Biden promoted his overthrow, though as yet hasn't provided any evidence to that effect, and just last month they were friendly.

The visa restrictions being placed on Venezuelan officials is largely pointless and rankles Maduro. But it's not much of an escalation and does not amount to coup plotting. I don't see much evidence of "increasing U.S. belligerency." I think the Obama administration is paying very little attention to Venezuela and is mostly waiting to see how things play out.

There is a direct correlation between the drop in oil prices and the increase of accusations flowing from Miraflores. You're starting to scrape the bottom of the rhetorical barrel when you bring in Joe Biden as a coup plotter. At this point, Venezuela blames the U.S. for scarcity, opposition protests, psychological warfare, disenchantment, assassination attempts, etc., etc. According to the Venezuelan government, the United States is focused constantly on Venezuela and is incredibly powerful. I am not sure whether Maduro believes this or not.