U. S. acting adviser to Colombia and the mind of the Venezuelan Affairs System (VAU) in Bogotá, Francisco Palmieri, said on Monday that the management of U. S. President Joe Biden is, once again, ready to relieve sanctions on Venezuela’s communist regime.
A “meaningful step” toward the implementation of a “free and honest” electoral agreement, which the regime has repeatedly broken and failed to uphold similar agreements in the past year, would be required for dictator Nicolás Maduro to take such action.
” Today, I spoke with U. S.companies about sanctions relief. Our goal is to promote fair and competitive votes. The U.S. Embassy in Venezuela posted a message on social media with the signature of Palmieri,” We remain open to taking positive steps toward complete application of the Barbados Agreement.”
Hoy hablé de empresas estadounidenses una un alivio de las sanciones. Nuestra polÃtica busca incentivar elecciones inclusivas con competitivas. Seguimos abiertos from responding positively to the significative methods used in the Acuerdo de Barbados ‘ plenary implementation. – FLP
— Embajada de la EE. UU., Venezuela ( @usembassyve ) May 6, 2024
Under the supervision of the Biden Administration and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, members of the Maduro regime and the Colombian opposition met in Barbados in October.
Following a number of negotiations, both parties agreed to the” Barbados Agreement,” which set out a number of vague agreements that would enable Venezuela to hold a “free and good” presidential election in the second half of 2024.
In exchange for those assurances, Biden extended the Maduro regime’s extensive oil and gas sanctions relief package, which gave it the right to re-enter the country’s rogue socialist regime for six months. The package recently restored the Maduro government’s main source of revenue and allowed it to seller deals with different countries — such as India, China, Spain, and France — leading to an uptick in Venezuela’s oil production. After more than 20 years of socialist mismanagement, Venezuela’s oil industry and refineries ‘ infrastructure has become almost completely in disarray, Venezuela’s oil production has currently decreased from its historic output records.
In response to the Maduro regime’s years of human rights violations against political dissidents, the sanctions relief package temporarily lifted sanctions on Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, which were put in place in 2019 during the former president of Venezuela.
Maduro repeatedly violated the Barbados Agreement before completely disbanding it. The dictator later made the” Caracas Agreement,” which calls for a July 28th, 2024 sham presidential election, known as the” Caracas Agreement.” MarÃa Corina Machado, the opposition’s frontrunner candidate, is unable to run in that election, as the regime banned her from holding public office for denouncing its human rights abuses.
MarÃa Corina Machado , protests against” a new coup d’etat on the constitution” in Caracas, Venezuela, on October 13, 2016. ( AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos )
Edmundo González Urrutia, a little-known former ambassador and the only opposition candidate who was granted the right to register as a candidate, will face Maduro in October. González’s campaign was originally intended to be a “placeholder” pending an eventual Machado candidacy.
Edmundo González Urrutia, the candidate for Venezuela’s presidential seat, poses for a photo with AFP on April 24, 2024, in Caracas. ( RONALD PENA/AFP via Getty Images )
The July 28 “election” will also see Maduro run against eight other “opposition” candidates and/or pre- approved “rivals”.
At the conclusion of its six-month suspension on April 18, the Biden Administration lifted the sanctions against Maduro. As a result, the Office of Foreign Assets Control ( OFAC ) issued a currently active license that gives U. S.companies a 45- day time frame to wind down operations involving PDVSA, ending on May 31, 2024. U. S.companies, however, may continue to engage in business dealings with PDVSA provided they possess a corresponding license from the U. S. Department of the Treasury.
In November 2022, the Biden Administration granted California-based Chevron one more license, allowing the company to resume its Venezuelan oil production and sell Venezuelan oil on American markets.
On November 29, 2022, a Chevron Global Technology Services Company logo appears behind Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in a Caracas administrative office. ( YURI CORTEZ/AFP via Getty Images )
Following the reinstatement of the oil and gas sanctions, OFAC issued the required license to Maurel &, Prom ( M&, P), allowing the French oil company to continue its operations in Venezuela.
Reliance Industries in India reportedly requested an authorization license on Monday that would allow Reliance to import crude oil from Venezuela. Before the enactment of sanctions against PDVSA in 2019, Reliance was the second-largest individual buyer of Venezuelan crude oil.
Rodney Lewis, a Texas-based company owned by oil and gas businessman, announced in late April that it had signed a contract with PDVSA to repair five of its neglected onshore oil fields.
The Canadian business stated in a statement that the agreement was ratified by the Biden Administration’s sanctions relief package, but it also stated that it “intends to operate in full compliance with the applicable sanctions regimes.”
The White House confirmed in April that U. S. representatives met with representatives of the Maduro regime days before the expiration of the sanctions relief package to discuss the Biden Administration’s” concerns” over Venezuela’s electoral process. The Maduro regime claimed that the United States had broken the “agreed-upon schedule for lifting sanctions.” The confirmation was issued in response.
Venezuelan author Christian K. Caruzo documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter , here.
