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Washington (AFP) – The United States announced on Tuesday a limited easing of sanctions against Venezuela, including one linked to the oil company ‘Chevron’. The Executive of Democrat Joe Biden presented this measure as a gesture to promote an imminent resumption of dialogue between the government of Nicolás Maduro and the opposition supported by Washington.
The Joe Biden Administration reported these measures in relation to Venezuela the day after the lifting of a series of restrictions on Cuba, two countries that, like Nicaragua, the United States describes as dictatorships.
And although US officials speak of “coincidences”, the approach of the IX Summit of the Americas, which Biden will host in Los Angeles in June, may have something to do with it.
The White House has not yet communicated the list of guests, but the head of diplomacy for the Americas, Brian Nichols, stated earlier this month that he does not expect Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to be present, considering that they do not respect democratic precepts.
Mexico, the first of some countries in the region to threaten to boycott the event if there are countries excluded, could therefore be sensitive to this relaxation of the US position.
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.” .
He specified that the Biden Administration had taken these measures “at the request of the Venezuelan interim government” headed by the opposition Juan Guaidó, whom the United States considers the legitimate president of Venezuela after Maduro assumed a second term in 2019.
Maduro’s government, re-elected until 2025 in elections denounced as fraudulent by several countries, and Venezuela’s Unitary Platform, 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.
internal political tensions
The “sanctions relief” to Venezuela announced on Tuesday refers above all to a “limited license” granted to the US oil group ‘Chevron’ in the context of the embargo on Venezuelan crude, imposed by Washington on Caracas in 2019 in the hope of removing from power to Maduro.
The exemption “authorizes ‘Chevron’ to negotiate the terms of possible future activities in Venezuela” but “does not allow closing any new agreement with the Venezuelan state oil company, PDVSA,” explained the senior US official on condition of anonymity.
The US Treasury plans to reveal “another measure” at a later date, he added.
According to press reports, the United States would remove from its list of sanctioned persons Carlos Erik Malpica Flores, a nephew of the first lady of Venezuela and a former high-ranking PDVSA official.
“None of these pressure reliefs would lead to increased revenue for the regime,” the senior Biden official said.
And he insisted: “Our approach has been to support the interim government and the Unitary Platform to get the regime to take measures to achieve free and fair elections, through negotiations.”
In that sense, he said, the sanctions policy will be “calibrated” to reduce pressure in the event of progress towards democratic restoration, or increase it if the process goes off the rails.
But Biden’s strategy generates internal political tensions.
Bob Menéndez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and an influential member of Biden’s Democratic Party, declared himself in favor of a negotiated solution to the Venezuelan crisis, but said that “the United States should only consider recalibrating sanctions in response to concrete steps.” .
“Giving Maduro a handful of undeserved gifts so that his regime promises to sit down to negotiate is a strategy doomed to failure,” said Menéndez, after criticizing the measures announced on Cuba on Monday.
His Republican colleague, Marco Rubio, also upset with the steps on Cuba, went further, accusing Biden of “appeasing” dictators.
“We cannot continue to allow Marxist sympathizers in the Biden administration to run America’s foreign policy,” he said.
Last week, 18 legislators from the left wing of the Democratic Party asked Biden to lift the sanctions against Venezuela and continue dialogue with the government of Nicolás Maduro after the “constructive commitment” of the White House with the trip to Caracas in March.
with AFP
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