The meeting was the product of a breakthrough. It was the first known, direct contact between a U.S. official and Maduro in years. The pact that they struck there secured the freedom of six jailed Americans in exchange for the return of hundreds of Venezuelan migrants that Washington had accused of belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang.

The agreement, for a few brief months, offered some hope that ties could thaw. It was, some experts said at the time, the opening shot in a potential process of renewed US foreign policy between Washington and Caracas, one that might even have opened a path for working together again on political strategy oil industry.

But that promise was short-lived. Over the next several months, the United States appeared to switch gears. According to analysts, Secretary of State Marco Rubio replaced Grenell and took a leading role in an increasingly aggressive Venezuela crisis effort to oust Maduro regime.

Nine months after that carefully choreographed handshake, the situation is much more fraught. Eight U.S. warships are now off the Venezuela pact, and the country’s largest aircraft carrier is on its way there, along with three escort ships. Nearly 10,000 U.S. colors have also been transferred to the region. In recent weeks, B- 1 and B- 52 bombers have circled Venezuelan airspace on three different occasions.

The results, in human lives, have been chilling. At least 61 people — many of them Venezuelans — have reportedly been killed by U.S. strikes on boats in international waters. The Trump administration said, without offering evidence, that the vessels were tied to drug trafficking. It described the raids as part of an “armed conflict” with cartels, but there was no explicit congressional authorization for the military operations.