The United States announces that it will impose new sanctions against the Venezuelan oil and gas sectors, believing that the government of President Nicolas Maduro was continuing its policy of repression towards the opposition.
The President’s Administration Joe Biden thus returns to the reduction in sanctions announced in the wake of an electoral agreement concluded in October 2023 between the representatives of President Maduro and those of the opposition, with a view to holding a free and fair presidential election in July.
“We are concerned that Mr. Maduro and his representatives have prevented the democratic opposition from registering the candidate of their choice, harassed and intimidated political opponents and unjustly detained numerous political actors and members of civil society,” he said. said US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller in a statement.
While welcoming the proposed electoral calendar and the presence of international election observers, Washington condemns the ineligibility of opposition candidate Maria Corina Machado, favorite in the polls, and the non-registration of her designated replacement, Corina Yoris “We once again call on Maduro to allow all candidates and parties to participate in the electoral process and to release all political prisoners,” Miller also said.
The so-called “GL44” general license, which authorized transactions related to the Venezuelan oil and gas sector for six months, will not be renewed and will expire on Thursday, American authorities confirmed. Companies will have until May 31 to comply. to these sanctions, they clarified.
American sanctions or not, the country’s oil industry is not going to stop, Pedro Tellechea, Venezuelan Minister of Oil and president of the public giant Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) assured journalists on Wednesday, even before Washington’s announcement. .
“At no time have we stopped producing, marketing, exploiting our reserves (…) We are not going to stop, with or without a license,” declared Mr. Tellechea.
The United States announced at the end of January that it would reactivate these sanctions against Venezuela, which reacted at the time by speaking of “gross and unjustified blackmail”.
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