Venezuela: President Maduro welcomes easing of some US sanctions

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday hailed the “small but important steps” taken by the United States to “license” oil companies so that they can operate in his country, as part of the easing of economic sanctions imposed by the Washington in Caracas.

“A week ago, the United States took small but important steps by authorizing (American) Chevron, (Italian) Eni and (Spanish) Repsol to start the gas and oil production process in Venezuela in order to export them to their markets. “Maduro said in an interview with an Argentine radio station, excerpts of which were posted on the Venezuelan president’s Twitter account.

The White House announced on May 17 the easing of some of the sanctions it had imposed in Venezuela in 2019, mainly the oil embargo, with the aim of ousting Maduro from power.

The relaxation was part of promoting dialogue between the Venezuelan government and the US-backed opposition, which was suspended in October and has not resumed.

A senior US official, however, had stressed that US policy towards Venezuela had not changed: sanctions would be “relaxed” if progress was made towards democracy and “free” elections were held, and “tightened” if the process was derailed.

This high-ranking official in the government of US President Joe Biden had stressed that “this easing of sanctions” concerns above all “a limited exception” given to the American oil company Chevron.

Chevron will be able to “negotiate the terms of possible future operations in Venezuela”, but without concluding a new agreement with the state-owned company PDVSA, as the official explained.

The US official did not mention Eni and Repsol, but Venezuelan Vice President Delsi Rodrεςguez said he had “checked and confirmed” that they were also involved in easing sanctions.