US Should Reimpose Venezuela Sanctions by Month's End If Conditions Not Met, Lawmaker Says
The State Department should clarify that the U.S. will reimpose a range of sanctions against Venezuela's oil and gold sectors if the Nicolas Maduro-led regime doesn’t begin lifting electoral bans on opposition presidential candidates by the end of November, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said in a letter to the agency this week.
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The letter comes about three weeks after the Treasury Department suspended certain sanctions on Venezuela after the country's government and opposition formally agreed to work together on conditions for the next presidential election (see 2310180070). Days after this agreement, McCaul said Maduro “reneged” on his commitments by canceling primary election results that led to the opposition party electing Maria Corina Machado as their presidential candidate. The Maduro regime has also signaled “that it will not permit Mrs. Machado to participate in the presidential election,” McCaul said.
McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he has been informed the Biden administration is giving the Maduro regime until the end of the month to reverse its decision, but the administration has “failed to provide details” on how it would respond if Maduro doesn’t change course. He asked the State Department to confirm that the U.S. will “reimpose all sanctions lifted pursuant to the” agreement in October if Maduro doesn’t allow Machado to participate in the 2024 elections and fails by Nov. 30 to “establish conditions for free and fair elections.”
A State Department spokesperson didn't comment.