The US relaxed sanctions against Venezuela in exchange for new negotiations with the opposition

The US relaxed sanctions against Venezuela in exchange for new negotiations with the opposition

Regarding Venezuela, a senior US official told reporters that the decision is “linked to an agreement between both parties to resume negotiations” in Mexico City to find a solution to the Venezuelan political crisis, “which should be announced very soon.” .

The Maduro government, re-elected until 2025 in elections denounced as fraudulent by several countries, and the Unitary Platform of Venezuela, which brings together the opposition, began talks in Mexico City in mid-August with a view to overcoming an acute political, economic and humanitarian.

Negotiations have been stalled since October, when Maduro suspended them in rejection of the extradition to the United States of businessman Alex Saab, accused of being his figurehead.

But a surprise visit by Biden administration emissaries to Caracas in March led to the release of two Americans held for years in Venezuela and a promise to resume dialogue with the opposition.

The “sanctions relief” to Venezuela refers above all to a “limited license” granted to the US oil group

in the context of the embargo on Venezuelan crude, imposed by Washington on Caracas in 2019 in the hope of removing Maduro from power. The exemption “authorizes Chevron to negotiate the terms of possible future activities in Venezuela” but “does not allow closing any new agreement with PDVSA,” explained the senior US official.

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After Washington’s announcement, Caracas called for the “absolute lifting” of international sanctions. “Venezuela has verified and confirmed that the US authorized US and European oil companies to negotiate and restart operations in Venezuela,” Vice President Delcy Rodríguez wrote on Twitter. “Venezuela hopes that these decisions will pave the way for the absolute lifting of illegal sanctions that affect all of our people,” she added.

Source: Ambito

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