US eases sanctions on Venezuela after deal between government and opposition

The United States praised the agreement between the Venezuelan government and the opposition, reached in Mexico this Saturday (26), which allowed the immediate easing of Washington’s sanctions on Venezuela.

“We join the international community and welcome the resumption of negotiations between the two sides that have stalled for nearly a year and a half,” a senior US government official said of the resumption of negotiations in Mexico.

The source stressed that the deal represented “important steps in the right direction” in Venezuela, where sanctions were eased minutes later when Washington authorized Chevron to partially resume oil extraction in the Caribbean country.

According to the Treasury Department, Chevron may continue to operate partially with state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PdVSA), provided that “PdVSA will not receive any revenue from oil sales by Chevron”. “.

The Treasury Department said this partial suspension of penal provisions “reflects the long-term policy of the United States to lift sanctions based on concrete progress” and that it will lessen the suffering of the Venezuelan people and give Venezuela “support for the return of democracy”.

The State Department said that other sanctions remain in place and that the United States will continue to enforce them “violently”.

According to Caracas, the deal between the government and the opposition would release Venezuela’s resources that were blocked abroad, but did not specify where these resources are or their value.

Influential Democratic senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Menéndez, who strongly opposes easing the crackdown on Caracas, described this Saturday’s agreement as “an urgent and necessary step to confront the misery and suffering of the Venezuelan people.”

However, Menéndez stressed that Nicolás Maduro “had no illusions” about his “sudden will” to act “in the interests of his people”.

Venezuela is under sanctions from the United States and Europe, which were adopted to encourage Maduro’s departure from power, but at the same time exacerbating the economic crisis that hit the country without achieving the desired results.

Negotiations resumed in May as some US sanctions were eased following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its impact on oil prices.

The American government has already openly acknowledged that Venezuelan oil can be useful in an international market with high prices and strong inflation in the United States, largely due to rising fuel prices.