The Biden administration recognizes the reality of the past six months: Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has no intention of holding free and fair elections.
Six months after U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s key oil and gas sectors were lifted, the Treasury Department announced Wednesday that it would let those temporary licenses expire, saying Maduro’s government had failed to uphold its end of the bargain.
That deal was simple: Maduro and the united Venezuelan opposition signed a deal in Barbados last October to hold free and fair elections, monitored by international observers, and in exchange the United States temporarily lifted some of its sanctions on Venezuela’s oil, gas, gold and gold. sovereign debt.
It was a bold move, a gamble – and a stark departure from former President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign – with Biden officials saying they hoped Engaging strongman Maduro could help find a political solution to end the unrest in Venezuela which has sent a fifth of its population fleeing, more refugees than during the wars in Syria or Ukraine.
But in the months that followed, Maduro’s government harassed and arrested opposition figures and banned opposition candidate Maria Corina Machado, who overwhelmingly won the primaries, from running for office. elections.
A senior administration official told reporters that Maduro had met some “key commitments,” but highlighted those actions as how his government had “failed” — an understatement, to say the least. .
Democrats and Republicans in Congress have urged the administration to reintroduce those sanctions because Maduro has clearly shown no appetite for holding an election in which polls consistently conclude he would lose overwhelmingly.
But the administration has been hesitant because it also considers domestic priorities: the price of gas and the crisis at the border. Venezuelans contributed to the surge at the southern border that overwhelmed Border Patrol agents and became a political albatross for Biden, while gas prices rose 14% over the past year, according to AAA data obtained by ABC News.
In March, Venezuela’s oil exports reached their highest level since early 2020, with customers rushing to complete their purchases ahead of the move – which the Biden administration had warned against last March – a final warning that Maduro ignored again. But Venezuelan oil production has been low for years due to “years of underinvestment and mismanagement,” according to a U.S. EIA report last fall.
While the United States is in the process of removing the biggest lever it had – these oil and gas sanctions – after a 45-day shutdown, this is not the end. The senior administration official told reporters that they “will continue to engage constructively, privately and pragmatically to try to move the election in a better direction,” adding, “We will watch and monitor very carefully.”
For his part, Maduro publicly told Biden this week that he was ready to negotiate: “I will never close the door to dialogue with anyone. I give the following message to the negotiators and to President Biden,” he said. he declared during a press conference: – before speaking awkwardly in English: “You want, I want. You don’t want, I don’t want too.”
More importantly, the opposition is not giving up the fight. Machado was not allowed to run, but two opposition parties were able to file their candidacy, one of whose candidates said he would let Machado take his place. He has a long history with the opposition, often seen as disloyal or untrustworthy, but after a meeting today the two sides agreed to try to work together to field a candidate against Maduro.
There are many obstacles ahead, including obstacles to voting for Venezuelans abroad – many of whom would likely oppose the president they fled – and with US sanctions returning, Maduro could impose even more . But the opposition maintains that it is “united to change Venezuela.”
ABC News
