Source: AFP
The United States warned on Tuesday that it was ready to lift sanctions on Venezuela’s vital oil industry unless President Nicolas Maduro’s opponents were allowed to take him down, as the left-wing government vowed to fight back through immigration.
The heated exchanges came just two months after the rivals took tentative steps to improve relations following a deal between Maduro and the opposition.
But that deal has since collapsed with credible opponents barred from running in this year’s presidential election.
The United States has announced that it is immediately revoking a license that allowed Venezuela’s state-owned gold mining company, Minerven, to operate.
The State Department also said it was ready to reimpose sanctions on transactions with the oil and gas sector, Venezuela’s main money maker, but set an April 18 deadline for progress between Maduro and the opposition.
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/3cf1f2efd348b336.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/3cf1f2efd348b336.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
Read also
Farmers’ discontent is spreading across the EU as France tries to quell the protests
“There is still time for the Maduro regime to change course. There is still time for them to allow free and fair elections,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
“We are optimistic that they will do that, but if they don’t, we are ready to apply our sanctions,” he said.
Miller said Maduro should honor the deal with the opposition, reached in October in Barbados, and allow other candidates to “freely participate” in the election.
Venezuela’s Supreme Court, loyal to Maduro, upheld on Friday a 15-year ban from holding public office against the president’s main rival in this year’s elections, Maria Corina Machado.
The court also confirmed the ineligibility of a potential opposition candidate — two-time presidential candidate Enrique Capriles.
Machado, after the court ruling, accused Maduro and his “criminal system” of seeking “fraudulent elections”.
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/26be6813c93a3215.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/26be6813c93a3215.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
Read also
The US is preparing to re-impose oil sanctions on Venezuela due to elections
Threat to immigration
Venezuelan authorities responded by threatening to target Biden in a sensitive area ahead of his own re-election bid — immigration.
More than seven million Venezuelans have fled in the past decade as the economy collapses and a growing number seek to enter the United States.
Vice President Delsy Rodriguez warned that Venezuela on February 13 would cancel repatriation flights for its nationals – which began in October in an initial deal between the Maduro and Biden administrations – if the United States moves to “intensify economic aggression.”
“All of Venezuela rejects the rude and inappropriate blackmail and ultimatum expressed by the US government,” Rodriguez wrote in X.
In early 2019, the United States declared Maduro illegitimate following concerns about earlier elections, with most Western and Latin American countries switching recognition to then-opposition leader Juan Guaido.
But years of sanctions and other pressures have failed to oust Maduro, who enjoys support from a political patronage system, the military and Cuba, Russia and China.
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/a8582cf92f592051.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/a8582cf92f592051.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
Read also
Unionists to end boycott of Northern Ireland government
Source: AFP
The Biden administration, after initially sticking with predecessor Donald Trump’s sanctions approach, has shifted gears.
In November, Washington gave Chevron the green light to operate in Venezuela, and just before Christmas, Venezuela released 10 American prisoners in exchange for the United States, which freed a Maduro confidant.
Asked if the Biden approach had failed, Miller pointed to the liberation of Americans, saying the United States has already achieved “a very important goal.”
U.S. officials privately admitted they saw little prospect of Maduro allowing a vote in which he could lose power, but believed it was worth a try.
Maduro last week made allegations of plans to assassinate him and said the Barbados deals are “mortally wounded”.
Trump’s Republican Party has attacked Biden’s ties to Maduro, but leading members of the president’s Democratic Party have also called for the return of sanctions after the candidates were disqualified.
Source: AFP