Two unnamed senior Biden administration officials told reporters this month that the U.S. intends to ease sanctions that prohibit American companies from engaging with the Venezuelan oil industry. The Trump administration established those sanctions in 2019 and tightened them in 2020 as part of an effort to pressure the military dictatorship in Caracas to release political prisoners and hold free and fair elections.
By Vigour Times
May 27, 2022
Yet the regime hasn’t even agreed to sit down at the proposed negotiating table in México. What looks like a Biden concession with no quid-pro-quo has alarmed democracy advocates all over the Western Hemisphere – and especially in South Florida. They’re worried that the U.S. is tiptoeing toward a rapprochement with dictator Nicolás Maduro that will abandon the cause of Venezuelan freedom. (For the record, independent oil analysts say that Venezuela, with or without Chevron, isn’t capable of making a dent in lost Russian oil production any time soon.) Sen.
Robert Menéndez, a New Jersey Democrat, captured the sentiments of American hawks in a statement to the Biden administration on May 17: “Giving Maduro a handful of undeserved handouts just so his regime will promise to sit down at a negotiating table is a strategy destined to fail.”
The potential effects of this backlash on U.S. midterm elections seems to have gotten the attention of the administration – and sent it backpedaling.
Juan González, the National Security Council’s senior director for the Western Hemisphere, warned in a May 19 Bloomberg interview that any unilateral relief would not improve life for the ordinary Venezuelan but only “line the pockets of the regime.”
On Tuesday a State Department spokesperson told me that the “overall sanctions policy on Venezuela remains unchanged, and we will continue to implement and enforce our Venezuela sanctions.”
Reuters, however, reported last week that a U.S. license held by Chevron to do business in Venezuela will be extended and will include “‘narrow’ authorization” for the company to negotiate with the regime “on future activities.” A nephew of Mr. Maduro’s wife is also reportedly to be removed from the U.S. sanctions list.
Either of those things would be changes to U.S. policy, however small. Press reports cite unnamed officials who claim that they’re carrots designed to bring Mr. Maduro to talks on restoring democracy in support of internationally recognized Venezuelan interim President Juan Guaidó.
Delcy Rodríguez tweeted her hope that the policy change would “pave the way” for lifting all sanctions. She made no mention of a path to new elections.
If the Menéndez camp doesn’t have confidence that the administration is committed to restoring democracy, it’s speaking from experience.
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Read More: Vigour Times – Venezuela sanctions belief is a trap for Biden
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