Venezuela allows return of expelled German envoy

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) - Venezuela announced on Monday that the German ambassador -- expelled in March for meeting with the country’s opposition leader -- could return under the prospects of a "normalization of the diplomatic relations.

"Following various contacts with the German government, a process of normalization of diplomatic relations between the two states has been started," Jorge Arreaza said in a statement on Monday.

The decision was taken during a meeting in Berlin between Venezuela's Deputy Minister for Europe Yvan Gil, and the German Foreign Ministry's Latin America Director Marian Schuegraf, according to the statement.

After the meeting, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro revoked his decision against envoy Daniel Martin Kriener, Arreaza said.

"[Daniel] Martin Kriener and the German Government have decided to return to the country [Venezuela] to build an agenda of mutual interest, in accordance with the principles of international cooperation," he added.

On March 6, Maduro declared Kriener a persona non grata for his "recurring acts of interference in the internal affairs of the country", after he welcomed Guaido at the airport with other European ambassadors upon his return to Venezuela from a tour of Latin America.

Political unrest has been ongoing between the elected President Maduro and the opposition leader Guaido since Jan. 10.