WASHINGTON: The Biden administration plans to provide sanctions relief for Venezuela’s oil and gas sector almost immediately in response to a 2024 election deal reached between the Venezuelan government and the country’s opposition, a senior US State Department official told Reuters.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the US is going ahead with a broad easing of energy-related sanctions but is prepared to reverse those steps if President Nicolas Maduro’s government fails to lift a ban on opposition presidential candidates and release political prisoners.
The Biden administration, which had long promised sanctions relief in return for democratic concessions from Maduro, is issuing licenses and authorisations that will include allowing Caracas to resume business with Caribbean nations, the official said.
It marks a significant step in President Joe Biden’s administration’s steady shift toward increased engagement with Venezuela, moving away from former President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against the socialist-governed OPEC-member state.
The US moves followed an announcement on an agreement reached in Barbados on Tuesday between Maduro’s government and the US-backed opposition on electoral guarantees for an internationally monitored vote to be held in the second half of next year.
But the deal did not remove bans on opposition candidates the government had barred from public office and made no mention of freeing political prisoners, falling short of what the US wanted to see.
Source: CNA
