U.S. lifts sanctions on Venezuelan oil and gold after Maduro deal with opposition

miamiherald:  The United States partially lifted sanctions against the Nicolas Maduro government on Wednesday, following a deal the socialist regime reached the day before with the Venezuelan opposition setting a roadmap for holding freer presidential elections next year.

In an announcement made by the State Department and Department of Treasury, the Biden administration said it would grant a six-month general license temporarily authorizing transactions involving the oil and gas sector in Venezuela, and a second general license authorizing operations of state-run Minerven, a previously sanctioned gold mining enterprise that had been trading in the black market.

In addition, the Biden administration lifted a trading ban on certain Venezuelan sovereign bonds and debt and equity belonging to the state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, PDVSA.

The U.S. government also said that it is ready to reinstate the sanctions if at any point the Venezuelan regime fails to fulfill its commitments, and that it expects concrete actions taken by the Maduro government by the end of November, including authorizing all opposition candidates to run in upcoming elections who choose to do so and “beginning of the release” of all Venezuelan political prisoners and U.S. citizens detained in the country.

“Failure to abide by the terms of this arrangement will lead the United States to reverse steps we have taken,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. “The United States stands with the Venezuelan people and actors who want a democratic future.”

In making the announcement, the Treasury Department said that it assesses that these measures “would have the positive effect of displacing nefarious players in this market, and with negligible financial benefit to the Venezuelan regime.”

State Department officials also noted that other sanctions and restrictions on Venezuela remain in place, and that the relief announced on Tuesday could be amended or revoked if Maduro and his representatives “fail to follow through on their commitments.”

“In accordance with our longstanding policy, as a result of this agreement, the United States will provide limited sanctions relief, primarily in the oil and gas sector in response to this important development,” a U.S. official told reporters Wednesday night. “Our ultimate goal of sanctions is to bring about a positive change in behavior.”

The announcement came the day after representatives from the Maduro regime and the representatives from the opposition signed two separate accords paving the way for a presidential election that would be supervised by the European Union, the United Nations and other international observers next year.

The agreements, signed in Barbados, contained pledges to implement a number of electoral reforms, long demanded by the opposition, including the audit of the voters’ registry, long suspected to include hundreds of thousands of deceased and non-existent voters. The revision would also seek to include voters now residing outside the country.

The deal reached in Barbados recognized that the opposition has the right to choose its own candidates but stopped short of lifting an existing ban on certain opposition leaders, including the top official at Vente Venezuela party, Maria Corina Machado, who is expected to easily win the opposition’s primary vote this Sunday.

Many observers interpreted the absence of a direct reference to lifting the ban in the accords as a sign that the regime may not be willing to allow Machado to compete against Maduro in the presidential elections that would be held in the second half of next year.

A second senior administration official told reporters Wednesday night that the administration understood any candidate would be free to run, and would receive security protections, when asked about Machado’s prospects.

“The partial agreement signed yesterday clearly states that the promotion of a way forward for all candidates to be able to run, and be authorized, is part of that process,” the official said. “This is something that we consider vital to the process, and we also very clearly stated that this is essential for Venezuelans to have a choice – a democratic choice.”

“The agreement that he signed says that there will be a path to authorize all candidates, and the clear understanding in the context of the negotiations has been that the Maduro authorities will act expeditiously to authorize all candidates,” the official added. “And that’s certainly our understanding of the way forward.”

Biden administration officials also said that they expect Maduro to release the remaining U.S. prisoners in Venezuelan custody that they believe are being wrongfully detained by the government in Caracas.

“We conveyed our expectation clearly that that will be a key part of the implementation of this process,” a State Department official said.