2024-01-31 00:08:57
– Washington reactivates sanctions against Venezuela
The United States judges that Nicolás Maduro is not respecting his commitments to hold a fair presidential election in 2024.
Published today at 1:08 a.m.
Aged 56, Maria Corina Machado won the opposition primary in October, winning more than two million votes and 92% of the vote.
AFP
Three months after lifting them, the United States announced Tuesday that it will again impose sanctions against Venezuela’s oil and gas sector, which responded by calling the announcement “gross and unjustified blackmail.”
Washington judges that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is not respecting his commitments to hold a fair presidential election this year, after the confirmation on Friday by the Supreme Court of Caracas of the ineligibility for 15 years of the head of the opposition Maria Corina Machado.
“In the absence of progress … including allowing all candidates to compete in the presidential election, the United States will not renew the license (authorizing the purchase of oil and gas) when it will expire on April 18, 2024,” according to a press release from the US State Department.
“Coarse blackmail”
Caracas immediately “rejected the ultimatum and the crude and unjustified blackmail launched by the American government. If they make the misstep of intensifying economic aggression (…) repatriation flights for Venezuelan migrants will be immediately canceled from February 13 (…) and any existing cooperation mechanisms will be re-examined.
The Chavista president of parliament Jorge Rodriguez immediately announced the launch of a national consultation from February 5 to establish an electoral calendar with a view to the presidential election. Washington said Monday evening that it would again impose sanctions against the public company Minerven, which operates gold mines, with entry into force on February 13.
The United States is thus returning to the six-month reduction in its sanctions announced in the wake of the agreement concluded in Barbados, on October 17, 2023, between the government and the opposition. Caracas and Washington set up migrant repatriation flights immediately after the agreement.
Maria Corina Machado ineligible
The Barbados agreement set the date of the presidential election in the second half of 2024 with the presence of international observers. It also opened the possibility for those “aspiring to run” to challenge their ineligibility in court. Among them, Maria Corina Machado, declared ineligible in particular for having supported American sanctions.
The opposition and Washington hoped that this procedure would allow Maria Corina Machado to run, but the Supreme Court, accused of being at the behest of those in power, confirmed her ineligibility on January 26. “Venezuela will not give in to any blackmail. Its institutions will continue to respect the laws and the Constitution, in accordance with the mandate received by the people,” responded the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Oil Minister Pedro Tellechea assured that his country was “prepared for all circumstances. If they impose more sanctions on us, we will prepare for the measures taken by the United States which will also suffer the consequences.
“Still time (…) to change course”
No “elections without me”, launched Maria Corina Machado on Monday. Aged 56, this liberal won the opposition primary in October, winning more than two million votes and 92% of the vote.
The Barbados agreement “remains the most viable mechanism” to resolve the crisis in Venezuela, the State Department said Tuesday, “but it is necessary” that Caracas “respects the road map” and that “the opposition has the right to freely choose its candidates.
A little later, the State Department emphasized that Venezuela could still avoid sanctions: “There is still time for the Maduro regime to change course (…) We hope that this is what they will do, but if they do not, we are ready to apply our sanctions.
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